Make You Feel My Love, Book III
by AsgardianHobbit98
Summary: (Follows AOU. Steve/OC) With SHIELD gone and the new Avenger's Tower up and running, everything seems to be running smoothly. Though when Thor comes back, asking his team for help to find the missing scepter of Loki, will everything simply have been a "calm before the storm"? And what will happen when the Avengers have to battle their deepest and darkest fears?
1. Prologue

**Please read the first two books before you read this. Everything will be much easier to understand then :)  
**

* * *

 **Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Prolog~**

 _On the streets of Hell's Kitchen, a young girl was sitting, curled up, against the side of a tall skyscraper. The stars and the moon were shining down on her and the cold winter air was biting at her exposed skin. She had no home to go to even though the streets and buildings were clad with snow. All she had was the blanket wrapped around her and the old sneakers on her feet. Her clothes were filled with holes just like her shoes and none of her body was warm._

 _Every one of her breaths could be seen in the small fog that her warm breath created in front of her face. There was no one else outside now as it was Christmas. She knew everyone was inside in the warmth of their houses, their dining tables filled with delicious food and a fire burning in the fireplace._

 _The girl had had a home as well, a few months ago. Though when her grandmother got sick, she had been forced to sell it for money. The same thing had happened to her belongings and warm clothes. She did everything she could to pay the medical bills for her poor grandmother, though now, it seemed everything was going to end._

 _Suddenly, in the water vapor before her face, she saw something. For a moment, her breath was caught in her lungs as the thing she had seen was amazing. It had been the sight of a fire dancing in a fireplace, warming up its surroundings._

 _She was amazed about it, wanting to see it again. Taking in a deep breath, she breathed it out slowly so that the white cloud was there longer. This time, however, she didn't see a fireplace. She saw a beautiful Christmas tree with lights and decorations tingling and smiling over at her. Again, she was amazed and when the cloud disappeared, she took another deep breath, breathing that out slowly again._

 _This time, however, she saw no fire or tree. This time, she saw her grandmother's face smiling at her. She gasped, as it couldn't be true. Her grandmother was lying in a coma in the hospital, was she not? When the cloud disappeared and the vision of her grandmother didn't disappear, the girl smiled widely. The face of her grandmother floated away, her grandmother's body appearing as well._

 _Tears filled the girl's eyes as she reached out towards her grandmother._

 _"Take me with you," she whispered, her throat hurting as she said this._

 _Her granny held out her hand as well and just as the girl was about to hold her granny's hand again, a man walked through the vision of her grandmother, making her disappear. Instead of her grandmother's hand, she grabbed the unknown man's hand. She wanted to retract her hand, though her body was too weak and too cold to do as she wanted. Instead, the man looked down at her with an unreadable look on his face. The girl recognized him. He had talked to her before as she had searched for a job somewhere earlier that day. He had offered her to come with him though she hadn't trusted him, turning her back on him. Now, her body was too weak for her to object… Now, she had to come with him._

* * *

 **Six years later** and the girl had grown and learned what the right and bad choices in life were. She had no real skills, apart from one. To fight crime. And she was pretty good at it.

She stood in the middle of a dark alley, four men lying around her, unconscious. Footsteps were heard behind her and she glanced back, seeing her dear friend walk over to her, panting from having helped her deal with the four robbers.

"That's four less criminals walking the streets," he said.

The girl usually didn't work with him even though they made a good pair. No, she didn't work with the Daredevil. She worked with the Avengers.

The both of them tensed up when they heard a strange noise coming towards them. Matt quickly walked over to her, pressing his back against hers. She lifted her fists up, ready to fight more criminals. Though, it wasn't footsteps that came towards them; it wasn't people.

Instead, it was a small metal ball hovering in mid-air that came towards them. It opened up its upper half, the two heroes relaxing as they recognized the ball. Tony Stark's face appeared in a hologram above the now opened ball, looking at the two of them.

"Sorry to interrupt. But, I've got something for you, Maria. I need you back at the Avengers Tower ASAP."

Maria nodded, the ball closing again, the hologram disappearing before the ball floated away from the two heroes. She turned to Matt.

"Sorry-"

"I know," he said, smiling at her. "Being an Avenger is a full-time job."

"Can you deal with this alone?" asked Maria, gesturing towards the four unconscious men.

One of them was waking up, groaning and placing his hands against his forehead where a drop of blood was falling down towards his left eyebrow.

"Of course," replied Matt before Maria gave him a quick hug.

"See you around," she said before starting to walk towards the end of the alley, kicking the robber in the head once as she passed him, rendering him unconscious again.

As she reached the end of the alley, where a dead-end existed, Maria clasped her hands together once, activating the new gloves Tony had given to her earlier that week. She placed them against the building's side, beginning to climb up as the gloves reacted to the brick material the building was made off, sending the same information to her new boots. Exactly how the gloves worked, Maria hadn't understood. Though she liked them, being able to crawl up the walls easily in order to get away in the dark without anyone noticing her.

Whatever Tony had for her, she was sure it would be just as awesome as those gloves.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading, guys! If you're new, welcome! Just, please note that you'll need to read the first two books before actually understanding any of this book.**

 **Please, let me know what you think of this prolog. More updates are coming next week. Need to work a little more on the plot before I continue updating this :)**


	2. Chapter 1, New Gear

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 1~  
New Gear**

 **Avengers Tower**

"Dalton!"

Maria smiled, removing her mask as she exited the elevator an hour after Stark had called her back.

"Stark!" called Maria back, quickly embracing him. "So?"

"Yes," said Tony, starting to walk up the stairs towards where the lab was. "I've made you something."

"What?" asked Maria, following him up the stairs.

"Last night, me and myself were thinking about the past and our first mission together," said Stark, earning a nod from Maria as she walked beside Tony towards the lab. "And I remembered that you used to have a sword which you handled pretty well."

"Yeah… where are you going with this?" asked Maria, frowning slightly.

"Well, since you threw the sword away, you don't really have a weapon, right?" asked Tony.

"Look, I threw it away for a reason-"

"I know. It was Artur's," breathed Tony, waving his hand as if dismissing what Maria wanted to say. When he saw the hurt look on her face, though, he quickly retaliated and placed a hand on her lower arm, stopping as well. "I know."

Maria simply nodded, glancing down at the hand on her arm before taking a deep breath. "Let me guess, you've made a new sword on your spare time?"

Tony smirked. "Even better."

With a confused Maria following him, Tony walked into the labs, earning the attention of Bruce who was fiddling with some papers at the far end. He leaned his head forwards enough to be able to look at the two heroes entering over the edge of his reading glasses, and when Maria smiled and waved at him, Bruce smiled back, removing his glasses and walking over to them.

"I thought you hadn't tested it enough to give it to her yet," said Bruce simply, placing his glasses in the breast pocket of the white lab coat he was wearing.

"I figured she could help with the testing," coughed Tony, earning a pointed look from Bruce.

"This weapon could potentially be dangerous-"

"And Dalton can heal," replied Tony to which Maria scoffed.

"That's not a valid reason to put me in danger."

Tony looked between Maria and Bruce for a while before pouting slightly, walking over to a cabin, opening it and taking out a metal box from it. Maria watched him with interested eyes, following his hands with her gaze as he quickly opened the box and took out, what looked like, a sword handle. Though it was rounded in a different way and it looked much more technological than sword handles usually did.

Tony turned to Maria, letting the handle rest in the palms of his hands as he watched Maria with a knowing look in his eyes. He could see the curiosity in her eyes and he could see that she was willing to take the risk if it meant that she could figure out what the handle was for.

"That's not a sword," said Maria, cocking an eyebrow at Tony who simply rolled his eyes.

"When I say me and myself, I mean me and myself watching a movie that might possibly have been about space and accidental incest," said Tony, lulling his head to the side as he continued to watch Maria.

"Star Wars?" asked Maria before she widened her eyes. "What kind of sword did you make exactly?"

"Don't worry. Lightsabers are scientifically impossible to make," said Tony before grabbing the handle in his right hand, offering it to Maria. "But one could say I got my inspiration from them."

Curiosity and excitement filled Maria as she quickly grabbed the handle from Tony, pressing the red button with her thumb on accident. Luckily, she had pointed the handle away from anyone, otherwise an accident might've happened. From the handle, after she had pressed the button, a swish of energy escaped the top of the handle. Though it wasn't anything like a lightsaber. It was a see through light, the sides of the 'blade' showing off a little more light than the middle of the 'blade', making them look like contours rather than light. To Maria, it looked more like one of Tony's holograms than anything else, the light blue colour of the blade and the light green contours reminding Maria of the hologram of Tony she had seen earlier with Matt.

"Still don't want to take the risk?" asked Tony, wiggling his eyebrows.

Although it was quite cool, Maria didn't understand how it was supposed to work. After all, you couldn't touch holograms.

"How does it work?" asked Maria.

"Well, it's sciency. But I supposed you can say that I pushed the hologram to past its limits in order to make it – uh – touchable," said Tony, clearly trying his best to make it seem reasonable to Maria who hadn't done anything 'sciency' in her entire life.

"Oh…" was Maria's only reply, her eyes fixated on the light from the blade as she slowly moved it around.

The weight of the sword was perfect, even more perfect than the one she had earlier. Not only that, but if things worked out with this weapon, she wouldn't have to carry around an entire sword all the time which took up quite a lot of space, not to mention that they were very heavy. This sword, however, was as light as a feather.

"The core is unstable," said Bruce, causing Maria to turn her head to him. "It's _dangerous_."

"The core _can_ get unstable," agreed Tony, nodding his head. "But with some data from when it's actually used in battle, we can get it more stable."

Bruce sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Don't tell me you're actually going to do this, Maria? If the core gets too unstable, the handle won't just warm up and burn your hands, but it might explode."

"How big is the blast radius?" asked Maria, earning a chuckle from Tony.

"Not big enough to do damage on the building," said Tony.

"Big enough to do damage on Maria," argued Bruce.

"I'll do it." Both Tony and Bruce looked at her with different looks on their faces. Tony looked smug, having known she wouldn't back away from this as it was too cool and too little of a risk. Bruce only looked annoyed, not liking the idea of getting Maria into danger.

"Good girl," commented Tony. "The training room is downstairs."

* * *

Music blasted through the hidden speakers as Maria ran all over the room, attacking the holograms Tony made appear from his safe spot behind bullet proof glass in a room next door. Sweat dripped down Maria's forehead as she ran, swinging her new sword back and forth, taking down holographic Iron Man suits with ease.

It wasn't until the music stopped blaring that Maria stopped, pressing the red button to make the blade retract and placing her hands on her knees as she took deep breaths to calm down. The holograms around her disappeared and Tony walked inside, clapping his hands.

"Impressive!" he called, Maria watching him as he stopped in front of her. "Did it work?"

"Yeah," breathed Maria, standing up straight again. "The handle didn't burn me this time."

"Yes," said Tony, fist bumping the air slightly before looking at Maria with a smug look. "Told you it would work."

"Can I take some time off now? I mean… after four days, I think I deserve it," breathed Maria, wiping away some sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.

Tony chuckled. "Yeah, go ahead and take a day off."

"What do you mean, a _day_? I'm taking the rest of the _week_ off," said Maria, brushing past Tony.

Stark's laughter echoed through the training room as Maria left, the door swinging close behind her. Her room wasn't far away from the training room. The lab, the living room and the kitchen were all on the top two floors of the building. Though the training room and the sleeping areas were on the lower levels. Luckily, Maria's room was only two corridors away.

The moment she entered her room, she threw her new sword on the bed, quickly removing her suit and doing the same thing with it. In just her underwear, she entered the bathroom, turning on the tap to the bath, adding some bath oils to the water before exiting the bathroom again, letting the bath fill up slowly on its own. Her bedroom consisted of a large, king sized bed at the far end of the room and two closets. One was a simple walk-in closet in which her civilian clothing existed – Tony had bought all of them for her – while the other one, on the opposite side of the room, had glass doors and lights in it. There, her costume was supposed to hang though the past four days, the suit had been used non-stop and the closet had been empty instead.

While the bath filled up, she checked her phone for any messages from Steve. He had promised to call her every day that he was away, though lately, he hadn't done so. Worry latched onto her heart as she saw that he once again hadn't called nor texted her. It was currently late in the night and she knew that if he was going to contact her, he would've done so. All she could do, was hope that nothing had happened as she didn't know where he was which meant she couldn't go out and help him.

With a pout, she threw her phone on the bed again, entering the bathroom again and trying her best to not think too much about it. After all, Steve could take care of himself and he had Sam by his side.

* * *

With a fuzzy robe wrapped around her, she walked outside of the elevator, warm socks and her pyjamas on underneath. Her hair was still dripping slightly, though she didn't care. Tony was already sitting on the couch, waiting for her. The past week that she had spent at the Avengers Tower had not only given her a new weapon, but also a new evening routine. She and Tony had, after having talked a bit, realized that they had the same taste in TV-series. So, each evening, the two of them would meet up by the TV and watch something together.

Never in her life had Maria thought she and Tony would actually become close enough to do something like that together. Bruce had been invited too, though he was working on something important and didn't always turn up. Apparently, he wanted to find a new and better way to make the Hulk calm down after he wasn't useful anymore. Maria had come up with the name 'operation lullaby' for the project Bruce was working on, as a joke, though it had stuck and the three of them used it regularly.

"Okay," said Tony, clasping his hands together. "Which series should we watch?"

Maria looked over at Tony's happy state and sighed. She had failed miserably with trying to think of something else but Steve's silence during her bath and she was currently in a sad state. What if something hadn't happened and Steve just didn't want to talk to her?

"Okay…" said Tony, looking at her now, seeming to notice her mood. "No series. You need to talk."

Maria groaned. "It's stupid."

"I bet it is," said Tony, causing Maria to glare at him. "But not stupid enough for it to not affect you so, speak up."

"Steve's not contacted me for a while," said Maria with a sigh. "I just- I'm worried."

"Cap's fine," said Tony, earning a look from Maria. "He's Captain America, after all. Besides, if you want, I can have Jarvis find him for you."

"No, it's fine… I just wish he could contact me. And I don't want to call him first either because if he's somewhere important he's go the sound on, he might just get detected and then it would be my fault!"

"Why on earth would he have his sound on while on a mission?" asked Tony, cocking an eyebrow at Maria.

"Because he's Captain America. A man from the fifties where they didn't have cellphones," said Maria, earning a chuckle from Tony.

"Okay, you've got me," he replied before growing serious again. "Put on some clothes."

"What?" asked Maria.

"We're going out to make you feel better."

* * *

"Tony," whined Maria as he grabbed her hand, pulling her through the doors of the bar. "How is this supposed to make me feel better?"

"Alcohol always makes people feel better," replied Tony, dragging her towards the bar.

"Tony, I'm not you," replied Maria with a roll of her eyes.

Loud music was being played from a live band standing on a scene on the opposite side of the building. While Tony ordered a couple of drinks, Maria looked out at the crowd of people inside of the bar. It was located close to Hell's Kitchen and it had some hints to a typical Hell's Kitchen bar; dark and filled with people that Maria honestly couldn't decide if they were shady or not.

Tony nudged Maria, making her look over at him. "Bottoms up."

Grabbing the glass he handed her, she watched Tony as he downed the shot in one go before warily looking down at her own glass. Drinking was something she was good at from her previous life with Artur and his men who loved to drink their Russian vodka. Though she knew that each time she drank, she made bad decisions. Therefore, she simply placed her glass back down on the bar, watching as Tony downed another drink.

"Tony, come on. Let's just go," said Maria, though Tony barely even heard her as two women waved at him, earning his full attention.

"Not a party person?"

Maria tensed at the dark voice coming from beside her. A man was sitting on a barstool, his back hunched slightly as he sat there, a glass of whisky before him and a cigar in his right hand. He side glanced at her as she didn't reply immediately.

"Uh, no, not exactly," she replied simply before looking away again, tapping Tony's shoulder once more though still not succeeding in grabbing his attention.

"What's your name, bub?" asked the man.

Maria sighed slightly before looking back at the stranger beside her. "Maria."

"Suits ya'," he replied, causing Maria to look down at her hands. "Pretty girls shouldn't have to be forced to do anything."

"Who says I was forced to do anything?" asked Maria, not truly trusting the stranger.

"Your futile attempts to get away says so," he replied, smirking as Maria simply looked at him. "Logan."

"Okay," was all Maria said as she turned away again. "Tony, please."

"Fine," sighed Tony before pointing a finger at her. "But you've gotta relax a little and live life while you're still young."

"How many of those shots did you have?" asked Maria, frowning at his breath.

"Two more than I should have had," replied Tony simply. "Gotta go pee."

Maria rolled her eyes as he stumbled away from her, leaving her with the stranger by the bar.

"He your date or something?" asked Logan.

"No… Just a friend," replied Maria.

"So… No boyfriend?"

Maria widened her eyes before looking back at Logan. "I've got a boyfriend. Just not him."

Logan was about to say something more when suddenly, a loud bang was heard. It was definitely the sound of thunder, though it was louder than it was supposed to be and it caused the ground to shake. Logan stood up, his body tense and his eyes looking all around himself while everyone else quietened down. The music was the only thing that could be heard while everyone tried to figure out what that sound and shake had been.

Maria joined Logan, standing beside him with her hand inching to grab the dagger she had in her pocket. When the doors suddenly burst open, Maria relaxed, a smile appearing on her lips as she saw the familiar face of Thor entering the bar. His eyes searched the crowd, people inching away from the God where he stood. When his eyes found Maria, he started to walk towards her. Logan seemed to tense up even more, though Maria simply walked past him towards Thor, quickly embracing the Norse God who lifted her up from the ground with ease, embracing her back.

"It's been a while," said Maria as Thor placed her back on the ground, her smile wide.

"Indeed it has," replied Thor while his smile faded, unlike Maria's. "Lady Maria. I am in need of your assistance."

* * *

 **Well, this was a little bit of a filler chapter to just get things going. I was a little distracted when writing this since my friend was freaking out over the new Civil War trailer (so was I) so there may be strange bits here and there. Sorry about that :P**


	3. Chapter 2, Daddy Dearest

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 2~  
Daddy Dearest  
**

"I have searched all the nine realms. It is gone."

"And you're sure that it's nowhere to be found? I mean… Maybe Loki is still out there and he's stolen it-" said Maria, though Thor interrupted her.

"Loki died."

She looked over at him from where she was seated next to him in the back of the car Tony was driving. She had offered to drive instead since Tony still was quite drunk, though he had insisted and simply pointed towards the car, mumbling the word Jarvis before sitting down in the driving seat.

The car Tony had chosen was a sports-car, of course. And although it was a cool car that most people got jealous off, there wasn't much room in the back for Maria to sit next to a broad shouldered Asgardian. As the arm that was pressed up against the car door started to get more and more numb, she wondered why she hadn't decided to sit in the front.

"Oh…" was her only reply to Thor's words before she offered him a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry."

Thor only nodded, seeming to be just as uncomfortable as Maria where he was seated, Mjölnir resting on the floor of the car in between his feet.

"The sceptre harnesses a power that no mortal can understand. If it indeed has been stolen, then Midgard could be in danger," said Thor.

"Do you never just come to visit?" asked Tony from where he was seated. "You know, just a nice little visit to catch up with us and without bringing news of a potential apocalypse?"

Although it was a badly planned joke, Thor still smiled at Tony's words.

"Well… We should start with trying to figure out where it went missing," said Maria. "And then search for clues from there on."

"I believe that was before the battle against the Chitauri," said Thor.

Maria's eyes widened as Tony looked back at her through the rear-view mirror, the look on his face showing that he was thinking the same thing as her.

"The last time it was seen was at SHIELD's helicarrier," said Maria quietly.

"And we all now know who actually ran SHIELD," continued Tony.

"Hydra…"

* * *

Bruce, Tony and Thor were all in the kitchen. Tony was standing by the coffee machine, a cup of coffee in one hand and a PAD in his other, leaning against the counter. Thor and Bruce were both eating breakfast at the kitchen table, Bruce having made himself an omelette while Thor was eating a large sandwich he had made for himself. Tony had found it quite amusing to watch Thor make his own sandwich since it, apparently, had been his first ever try to make food on his own.

The comfortable silence hanging over the three heroes in the kitchen was interrupted by Maria bursting in through the doors. In her hands, she held a newspaper and her hair looked unruly. It was obvious that she had been outside just now because of the fact that she was still wearing her trench coat.

As all eyes were on her, she slammed the newspaper down on the kitchen table, causing Bruce to jump back, his plate in his hands as if to save his breakfast from Maria's rage.

"Have you seen this!?" she exclaimed, her eyes nearly seeming to burn with rage. "Have you!?"

Bruce leaned forwards, placing his plate back down on the table as he read the page that was turned upwards. His eyebrows knitted together as he did, Thor joining him in leaning forwards while Tony simply walked up to them.

"Oh…" said Bruce, carefully looking up at Maria.

"I do not understand," said Thor simply, looking at Bruce and Tony with confused eyes.

Tony leaned over Bruce's shoulder to read the newspaper's front page and he bit his lip.

"Mater Mortis!" exclaimed Maria before plopping down onto a chair next to Thor, crossing her arms over her chest. "That's what they're calling me…"

Her anger slowly disappeared as she sighed, leaning her head backwards and closing her eyes.

"Mater Mortis is Latin for mother death… It's the nickname the media has given her," explained Bruce to Thor who still looked as confused as ever.

"When SHIELD fell, all the information they had on all of us was let out to the public. Meaning, that my past was leaked as well," continued Maria. "Well, let's just say that my past isn't the most fairy-tale filled one out there and now they're calling me this."

"It is just a name," said Thor, making Maria look at him. "I am sure that there is no need for worry."

Maria smiled at his words, nodding her head.

"Besides, it gives the bad guys a nice fright," said Tony, pointing a finger at her to which she rolled her eyes. He sat down opposite of her, placing the PAD on the table before him along with his cup of coffee. "Jarvis is still searching for info about the sceptre."

"Good," replied Bruce as he folded the newspaper before letting it fall to the floor.

"Maybe that's not what we should be focusing on…" said Maria. "Maybe we should let Jarvis look for possible Hydra bases so that we can find the one that's the most possible to actual hold the sceptre… Like, a sciency base."

"Not bad," said Tony, nodding his head. "Jarvis, did you hear that?"

 _"Yes, sir."_

"Are we going to do this on our own?" asked Thor to which the others all looked at him.

"Steve's on a mission," said Maria, shrugging. "I honestly don't know where Nat and Clint are."

"I'll contact them," said Tony, standing up once more, grabbing his cup of coffee though leaving the PAD behind. "Won't be hard to find them."

"Should we, though?" asked Bruce. "Like Maria said, Steve's on a mission. Who knows what Natasha and Barton are doing."

"Whatever they're doing, I think it can wait if this sceptre problem is as dangerous as Thor says," replied Tony simply before walking out of the kitchen.

* * *

It was later that day when Maria was down in the training room with Thor, sparring and simply enjoying some alone time together, that Tony called her up to his office. Sweaty and wearing her costume (apart from the mask) she arrived at the top floor. Tony's office was just a small room in a corner, close to the laboratory, and with a view over New York City that stunned Maria.

"I see why you chose to have your office here," said Maria, startling Tony who had been focused on his computer screen, not having noticed Maria arriving.

She rounded his desk, placing herself by the windows and looking down at the street below the tower, watching the people walk by it without knowing her looking down at them.

"Quite stunning," said Tony, joining her by the window. "It wouldn't have been if we hadn't created a team and saved New York City. Well… I mean I did most of the saving-"

"Hilarious," said Maria, gently brushing her shoulder against his upper arm in a playful gesture while she rolled her eyes at him.

"I didn't bring you up here to brag, though," said Tony, turning away from the window before he sat down at the desk again, gesturing to Maria to join him by his side. "I brought you here to show you something I found…"

Maria watched as Tony opened a file on the computer, smiling slightly at the beautiful picture of Pepper he had as his wallpaper. Though the smile disappeared when she saw what he had found.

"I remember you telling us that Fury wanted you to go through the files that had been uncovered from Hydra. Did you?" asked Tony, looking over at Maria who intently was reading what Tony was showing on his screen. "From the look on your face I guess not…"

"What is this?" asked Maria quietly.

"A report from someone who, apparently, followed your dear friend Artur around quite a bit," explained Tony, standing up to allow Maria the chair.

"But… This person – He talks about my father."

"I know. I think this is what Fury wanted you to see," said Tony softly.

"It doesn't make any sense…"

"I know," said Tony. "But I'm afraid it's true. He's not missing. He's not dead. He's working for Hydra."

"And he's working in a Hydra laboratory," said Maria, looking up at Tony.

The shock of it all hadn't quite gotten to her yet when she said this. The fact that her father was alive was unreal and it felt as though she was going to wake up from the dream she was currently in any time now. Though she didn't. And as Tony placed a hand on her shoulder, seeming to see her slowly paling face, she smiled. It was the strangest of reactions, really. Her heart felt heavy and she knew she had been lied to her entire life. Yet at the same time, something inside of her felt relieved. It felt as though she was finally going to get a second chance with her family. Of course, her mother was gone and so was everyone else that she had hold dear in her family, though her father was still alive. And if she could convince him to leave Hydra and go back with her, she would have a chance of a normal father-daughter relationship.

* * *

 **Hell's Kitchen**

"Are you sure about this?"

Maria sighed, turning to the voice as she ran a hand through her hair.

"No. But I'm never certain about anything anymore in my life," said Maria, plopping down on the bed.

Matt walked over to her, sitting down on the bed without looking at her.

"He's my father… It's my second chance of a normal life. Well, as normal as it ever will get," she said. "He's not dead."

"But he's working for Hydra," said Matt, earning a glance from Maria. "And he still left you."

"Would you not have wanted to see your mother again?" asked Maria quietly to which Matt didn't reply.

They stayed on the bed for several minutes, a silence hanging over them that, from time to time, felt uncomfortable. Behind Maria, her bag was placed on the bed, packed with the few pieces of clothing and belongings she had had in Matt's apartment. Those belongings mostly existed of spare daggers and books she had been reading yet they were precious to her still and she wanted them with her during the mission.

"You're going to be careful, right?" asked Maria suddenly, breaking the silence.

Matt didn't respond immediately. Instead, he took a deep breath before placing a hand on her knee.

"You know me," was all he said.

Worry latched onto Maria's heart. New threats had appeared in Hell's Kitchen and although Maria truly wanted to stay with Matt and help him, her life with the Avengers prevented her from doing that. Even if she had had a choice, Matt would not have allowed her to stay. He thought her place was amongst the Avengers, seeing potential in her that Maria herself could not see.

Matt was not a careful person. Matt cared too much about other people to be a careful person. And these new threats could be too much for Matt to handle on his own. Something inside of Maria told her that Matt knew this. It was the way he barely had tried to reassure her that he would be alright that told her so.

"Okay," breathed Maria, standing up from the bed, grabbing her bag before walking towards the doorway leading to the living room/kitchen of Matt.

Before exiting, she turned back to Matt, seeing him still on his bed.

"I'll see you soon," said Maria quietly.

Once again, Matt didn't reply immediately. Instead, he stood up, walking over to her and quickly embracing her. She placed her face in the crook of his neck, relishing in the embrace of her closest friend, the one who had helped her through so much in her life, the one who basically was her brother. Her fingers curled around his shirt, not wanting to let him go. The worry in her heart for what was about to go down in Hell's Kitchen along with the uncertainty of her own mission made her want to simply stay where she was forever.

"Whenever we meet again… Just remember, you're never alone. And you're always only as strong as you want to be," said Matt before letting go of her.

"It feels like you're saying goodbye forever," said Maria quietly.

"In our profession, one can never know when the mission is over," said Matt.

With one last, quick, hug, Maria smiled at Matt before turning around, exiting Matt Murdock's apartment.

* * *

 **Steve and Maria will reunite in the next chapter! Woop! :D**


	4. Chapter 3, Avengers Assemble

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 3~  
Avengers Assemble**

Her eyes scanned the file of her father. It had taken some digging, though Tony had finally managed to get a hold of it. Earlier on, all Maria had found was a report from a man who had been following Artur around. In the report, it said Artur had previously worked for her father, Erik Dalton. That was until Erik suddenly was transferred on request from her father. Why that was, it never really said.

Maria was currently reading through some of the work her father had done. Apparently, he was quite the genius, working for Hydra as a scientist specializing in cloning. Though he hadn't worked for Hydra his entire life. At first, he had actually worked for SHIELD. It wasn't until a couple of years before he had left her and her mother that he had gone over to work for Hydra who, already back then, existed under the noses of SHIELD. The reason he had left was unclear though. He had asked for a transfer to Germany which was all it said about him.

Although Maria now knew where to look for her father and his facility that he was currently running, she felt as though there were details missing. Why had he suddenly asked for a transfer when he had a family to take care of? And why was his name on almost every single document of Hydra? And why had Zola known his name as though he wasn't just a simply scientist?

"Dalton?"

Maria jumped, turning around in the sofa she was seated on and letting the PAD rest on her knees.

"Yeah?"

"They've arrived," said Tony before turning towards the elevator.

Her heart started to beat faster, knowing exactly who Tony meant. Bruce and Thor both walked down the stairs towards them while Maria hastily stood up, standing beside Tony as they waited for the elevator to get to the top floor they were currently on.

A sudden uncomfortable feeling took a hold of Maria, causing her to feel conscious about everything about herself. Her hands started to fuss with her shirt, the fabric of it not wanting to sit as she wanted it to, before her hands started to fuss with her hair. Tony gave her a side-glance before rolling his eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"Steve's coming," said Maria quietly as she continued to fuss with her hair.

"Quit fussing," snapped Tony, slapping her hands away from her hair, causing her to glare over at him. "You look fine."

"Great… just fine."

"You look wonderful, Maria," said Bruce with a soft tone to his voice. "Steve's a lucky man."

A soft smile etched onto her lips at his words when suddenly, the elevator let off a soft ding, letting the four heroes know that they had arrived. As the doors opened, Steve, Clint and Natasha exited the elevator, all holding a duffel bag each with, most likely, their gear and some extra clothes. On Steve's back, his shield was resting and as his eyes looked over at Maria, everything stopped moving.

At least, that was what it felt like for Maria and Steve. When Steve removed his shield from his back, letting it fall to the floor along with his bag without caring, Maria started to move towards him. For the two of them, everything felt as though it was moving in slow-motion and the two of them moved as fast as they could towards each other. Meeting up half-way, the two embraced tightly. It was no comfortable hug for either of them as they both struggled against the others hug in order to be the one to hold the other.

Closing their eyes, they relished in the feel of having the other's warmth pressed against the other, the familiar scent of the other making them both smile widely as they simply stayed standing there, holding onto each other.

It felt as though each of the lovebirds had been a lone song during the time they had been apart and when they embraced, the two lonely songs started to play together in harmony again.

Reluctantly, Maria leaned back from the hug, Steve's arms staying around her waist to keep her near him. She smiled widely up at him, seeing his smile mirroring hers. As she placed her hands against his cheeks, Steve's eyes fluttered closed at the touch briefly which only caused Maria to let out a soft giggle.

"What, are we not getting any love?" asked Clint from beside Steve, causing Maria to look over at him, smiling widely.

"Of course," she replied before blowing a kiss his way to which he rolled his eyes.

Ignoring Clint, Maria laid her head against Steve's chest, her hands resting on his upper arms. She heard his quick beating heart, feeling relieved that her heart wasn't the only one going crazy at the reunion.

"So, why are we being gathered?" asked Natasha, her arms crossed over her chest while she cocked her head to the side, looking at Tony.

Maria turned around in Steve's arms, resting her hands on his who now were clasped together over her belly. Neither of them had any intentions to let go of each other yet.

"Thor came back with some… alarming news," said Tony, gesturing over to the Norse God.

"Loki's sceptre is missing," said Thor, taking the gesture as his que to start talking. "I have not found it anywhere in the nine realms after his death and its powers are too dangerous to leave behind anywhere. They belong on Asgard, locked away where no one can use them."

"His death?" asked Steve, his voice rumbling against Maria's back to which she wanted to smile. However, she fought against the impulse as the moment wasn't right to smile.

"Loki died while helping me in one of my tries to defeat Malekith," explained Thor.

"Wait, are you talking about the stuff that happened in London last year?" asked Maria, earning a nod from Thor. "Oh, yeah… Martin was there to clean things up after you guys. You know, back when SHIELD was a thing."

"So, what can these powers do?" asked Clint, his gaze moving from Maria back to Thor.

"Destroy the world," said Tony and Thor at the same time.

Maria watched Tony after he had said this. His gaze fluttered down to the floor and she furrowed her brow at the look in his eyes. It was one she had never seen before. One filled with what looked like fear.

"And the other nine realms as well," nodded Thor.

"Great… Where do we find it?" asked Natasha with a sigh.

"Well… We've figured out that, whatever is left of Hydra, must have the sceptre since it was last seen at the helicarrier before the battle of New York," said Bruce before grabbing the PAD Maria had been using earlier, from the couch. "So, we've tracked down a facility in Germany that has a possibility of holding the sceptre."

"Hydra base?" asked Steve, earning a nod from Maria.

"Yeah… My dad runs it."

Silence followed her sentence to which she wasn't surprised. Both Tony and Bruce looked at her with a worried glance while Bruce handed the PAD to Clint, showing the location of the facility, Nat looking over Clint's shoulder to look at the PAD as well.

"Not too close to civilisation," commented Clint before looking at Maria. "I thought your dad was dead?"

"I never said dead…" replied Maria. "Just not present during my childhood."

"You okay with this?" asked Steve, her hands curling around his which still were clasped over her belly.

Maria's only response was a nod.

* * *

"Your room is bigger than mine," said Steve, earning a soft chuckle from Maria as she plopped down on the bed.

"Still not over the fact that Tony gave us separate rooms," said Maria, earning a chuckle from Steve.

"I don't think he's comfortable with someone else getting it, as they say today, rather than him," said Steve.

Silence filled the room after his sentence and Steve's eyes widened. The both of them blushed deeply as they glanced over at each other, Steve standing at one end of the room while Maria stayed on the bed. Her palms became sweaty. The last time she had... It had been with Artur. She truly didn't know whether or not she was ready for that yet and by the looks of it, Steve wasn't either even though he had just, quite awkwardly admitted, that he thought about it.

"I-I mean cuddling," said Steve to which his cheeks only started to blush even more.

Maria cleared her throat, nodding her head as she looked down at the floor. "Yeah, of course."

The air around them felt heavy as they continued to stay where they were, neither of them looking at the other.

"So-"

"Yes?"

"So…"

"Uhuh…"

Maria looked up at Steve finally, wanting to do nothing else but make the uncomfortable mood in the room disappear.

"So, how did the mission go?" asked Maria, putting on a smile as she looked over at Steve.

Her smile faded, though, as she saw the look on Steve's face. It was serious, the usual look that he has as he works on a case as Captain America. Though there was something else lurking in his eyes, a hint of worry.

"We had a lead… But it went cold in Brooklyn," said Steve, the pressing feeling of the air around them disappearing as Steve joined Maria on the bed, leaning his arms on his knees, hunching his back slightly. "Sam's still working on it. But I doubt we'll get anywhere soon."

"I'm sorry…" said Maria, placing a hand on his.

Steve looked at it before he grasped her hand, intertwining their fingers.

"We got close once," said Steve, his gaze still fixed on their intertwined fingers. "I thought I saw him, standing on the opposite side of the road. He had just been there, staring at me and Sam as though he was in full control of this chase… When we reached the spot he'd been on, he was gone."

"You think he knows you're searching for him?"

"Definitely," said Steve. "And I don't think we'll find him until he wants to be found."

"Maybe he just needs time," said Maria softly. "After what I've read about the Winter Soldier project, I've understood that they enjoyed erasing his memory whenever he remembered too much. Maybe he just needs some time to take it all in."

Steve nodded before glancing over at Maria. "We'll see… How have you been?"

"Oh, you know, same old boring life," said Maria, earning a smile from Steve. "I stayed with a friend in Hell's Kitchen after Tony and Bruce told me I'm apparently a mutant."

"I fought with mutants in the war," said Steve, a smile on his lips. "They're honourable people."

"I don't know if they're all that accepted in today's society," said Maria with a shrug. "Though I suppose I can just not mention that part unless they see me recover from a bullet through the brain."

Steve nudged Maria, causing her to look at him again. "Don't hide who you are. And if anyone has a problem with you, then they have a problem with me and probably the others too."

"Thank you…" said Maria quietly. "Same goes for you, you know. If anyone has a problem with you, whether they are friends of us or not, they'll have a problem with me too."

Softly, Steve smiled at her, leaning forwards ever so slightly, their noses touching.

"I love you…" said Steve before pressing his lips against Maria's, leaving a tingling sensation on her lips as he pulled back again, much to her dismay.

"I love you too."


	5. Chapter 4, Jedi Tricks

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 4~  
Jedi Tricks  
**

 **2 hours away from Hydra science base in Germany**

There was a pleasant silence hanging over the Avengers as they all patiently waited for the Quinjet to arrive at the destination. Earlier, Maria had been worried about it all. After all, this was the day she had never thought would happen. The day she was going to meet her father again.

She was sat on one side of the Quinjet with Steve, Thor and Clint. Both Thor and Clint were talking quietly with each other as were Natasha and Bruce on the other side of the Quinjet. Tony himself was sitting in the front, working on something on his PAD while Jarvis flew the jet. Steve and Maria were sat with their shoulders pressed against each other, leaning slightly on the other. Steve had his head resting against the metal wall behind him, his eyes closed while Maria was listening to music through Bruce's headphones. She couldn't hear what anyone was saying, though it was the way she wanted it to be. Her heart was beating fast because of where they were going and she just wanted to cope with it herself. The music calmed her down, making her daydream and forget about the things that were about to happen.

It wasn't until Steve nudged her slightly that Maria paused the music, removing the headset for the first time since they had boarded the Quinjet, which was four hours ago.

"Let's go through the plan," said Steve a little louder so that everyone on board could hear him.

He stood up, the warmth of his body disappearing from next to Maria which made her pout slightly. Thor and Tony both stood up as well while Clint simply shifted to sit next to Maria, Bruce and Natasha staying seated as well.

In the middle of the jet, there was a screen hanging from the ceiling on which Tony showed the map of the facility they were about to storm.

"From what Jarvis managed to gather, the main computer is here," said Tony, a red dot appearing in the middle of the map. "We assume Dalton has stored all the information we don't have on Hydra yet on this computer. But to get to it, we will have to get the shields surrounding it, down."

"The generator is located here," continued Steve, a green dot appearing at the bottom of the map. "It's basically at the back door of the facility. So, I'm going to need two to get the back door along with the shields. I need two at the main entrance and the rest of you will be keeping the guards outside busy."

"Sounds like a plan," said Maria.

"Maria, Tony, take the back door. Barton, you're with me at the entrance. I want Thor and Natasha to keep the fight going outside and if it's necessary, use code green," said Steve, glancing at Bruce who nodded his head.

Maria stood up from her seat next to Clint and pressed herself in between Thor and Steve, causing the two men to side step slightly. "And the four of us inside… what do we do?"

"We get to the main computer," said Steve, glancing at Tony as a blue dot appeared in the middle of the map, close to the red dot. "We'll meet halfway five minutes after we've entered, together we'll get to the computer and take what we need."

"I highly doubt we're going to need to be four that go to the computer. Stark will do just fine," said Natasha.

"I know. But there's always something that goes wrong. We'll aim for all four of us to be at the rendezvous spot in time. If not, Tony, you know what to do," said Steve, earning a strict nod from said man. "All good?"

"Yes, sir," replied Maria, to which Steve smirked.

"Use these to keep in contact with the rest and to get a look on the map if you get lost," said Tony, handing out bracelets to each and every Avenger, each bracelet a different size depending on who it was for.

"I took the liberty of painting yours blue, cap," said Tony with an amused tone to his voice as he handed Steve his bracelet.

"Thanks," replied Steve sarcastically while putting on said bracelet.

"Don't worry, it matches your eyes," said Maria, nudging Steve with her arm while Clint laughed loudly from behind them.

* * *

"Uh… Where's the building?"

The six heroes halted upon seeing where the Quinjet had taken them. They were stood in the middle of a forest, green leaves surrounding them and a mushy moss giving of strange sounds underneath of their feet.

In front of them, a small cabin was placed. It looked as abandoned as a cabin could look, the windows only being holes in the cabin and the door having fallen off its hinges, laying on the ground and covered in a green layer of moss.

"Stark?" asked Steve.

"These are the coordinates," said Tony from underneath his Iron Man mask.

"Maybe the coordinates weren't up to date?" asked Maria.

"Even if they weren't, there should be something here," replied Natasha from next to her.

A sudden war cry was heard from behind them, causing all six Avengers to turn around. Bruce was stood in the opening of the Quinjet, his eyes wide as men rounded the Quinjet, running towards the six heroes who all prepared themselves. Steve readied his shield; Natasha turned on her electric gloves; Tony started hovering in the air; Thor gripped Mjölnir; Clint readied an arrow in his bow and Maria turned on her new sword.

"Wait for it…" said Steve quietly as the men all neared them.

They were most certainly Hydra soldiers, a red mark on their chest indicating just that. Though only a hand full had guns. Most of them were carrying escrima sticks, the ends of these sticks illuminating with electricity. They all wore masks reminding Maria a lot of gas masks while their suits were the same color as the green forest around them.

"Now!" exclaimed Steve, Clint letting his arrow fly off, an explosion following as it landed before a couple of goons' feet.

Thor and Tony both made their way towards the men, beginning the fight there while Steve, Clint, Nat and Maria waited for those soldiers who managed to get past Thor and Tony, taking them out with ease.

"Guys!" called Maria as she hit another goon on the head with her sword, the hologram keeping her from slicing through any flesh, to which she was grateful for. "There's more coming!"

She pointed towards the right, where a large tank followed by even more thugs, was making its way towards them. Steve sighed before glancing over at Tony.

"Stark! Scan the area!"

"Already done, cap. I can see an entrance," said Tony through the comlink. "It's underneath the ground, the facility."

"Take Maria and go inside," said Steve, glancing at Maria who nodded her head, assuring Steve that she would be alright. "Go!"

Tony flew away from the goons while Clint placed himself in front of Maria, covering her as she followed Tony towards where the said entrance was supposed to be.

Iron Man landed before her, leading her inside of the abandoned cabin. A lonely thug attacked Maria from behind, though she had heard him coming at her and managed to dodge the stick he was holding in his hands. Grabbing his outstretched arm with which he had tried to electrify her, she pushed him to the ground before thrusting her sword into the man's stomach, causing him to start coughing up blood form the impact. She kicked the escrima stick away from him before kicking him once in the head, rendering the man unconscious.

Tony had, in the meantime, opened a hatch Maria hadn't seen earlier. He jumped down it, followed by Maria.

They landed inside a hallway that was fairly lit and looked a lot like any other hallway. The walls were clad with a beige wallpaper and beautifully shaped lamps were hanging from the wall, illuminating the hallway. There were paintings hanging here and there, expensive looking paintings of various waterfalls and other nature scenes.

"This doesn't look like a science department," said Tony as they started to make their way through the facility, each hallway looking the same.

"It looks like someone's home," replied Maria.

 _"I'm detecting movement,"_ said Jarvis through the comlink. "Several guards heading your way."

"Great," replied Maria with a sigh, grabbing her sword once again. "You keep going, I'll take them out."

"I can help-"

"Go. It'll save us time," said Maria, earning a nod from Tony who continued to walk while Maria stayed put where she was.

There were ten of them, all carrying guns to which Maria cursed. She quickly took cover around the corner, the thugs all beginning to shoot. She looked down at her utility belt, finding nothing she could use against them to make them stop shooting at her. She took a mental note to get herself some sort of grenade in case she would ever find herself in the same position again. Even though there was no way for her to get them to stop shooting at her, she did get a different idea.

Turning her sword off and placing it in her utility belt again, she turned her gloves on, placing them against the wall she had been taking cover behind before starting to climb up. As she reached the ceiling, she hoped that Tony had made the gloves strong enough for her to actually do what she had in mind. Luckily, she could, and before she knew it, she was hanging upside down from the ceiling, using her abs to keep her feet from dangling down. It wasn't easy, though, and her entire body was shaking from the effort. Though she quietly managed to make her way above the guards who all were wondering, in German, where she had gone.

As she found herself in the correct position, she turned her gloves off and as she fell down, she grabbed her sword and turned it on, the sound of it causing the ten thugs to look up. In the shock of what had just happened, the thugs staggered backwards as three of the men were now knocked out from Maria landing on them. She quickly stood up, using the time it took for the guards to realize what had just happened to take five more out with her sword.

The two remaining guards started to shoot at her again and out of pure luck, Maria managed to deflect one of the bullets with her sword, causing it to fly back towards one of the men's leg, making him fall to the ground in agony. The last man looked at the man, then down at his gun, thinking Maria could do the same thing again even though she knew it was just something that had accidentally happened, before he let the gun fall to the floor, raising his hands up in surrender.

Maria smirked, standing up straight and walking towards him, the fear in his eyes causing an adrenaline to fill her body, a familiar adrenaline which she wasn't too pleased about feeling again.

"Please," the man said, though Maria still knocked him out.

"Easy," said Maria, shrugging slightly. "Good thing Hydra thugs can't aim."

Lifting her right arm up slightly, she pressed the button on the bracelet to show her the map of the facility. However, it didn't work. Sometime during her fight with the ten guards, the bracelet had been hit and it wasn't working anymore. She pressed the second button for communications and found out it wasn't working either.

"Stark? Steve? Anyone? Ah, shit…"

Sighing loudly, Maria started to walk in one direction, holding her sword up in front of her and hoping she would at some point meet up with Stark again or find an exit out of the facility.

The only thing she didn't know was the fact that she was walking the exact opposite way of where she was supposed to go. She wasn't going towards any exit nor was she going towards the middle where the main computer was. She was walking towards the labs.

After several minutes of wandering around, she came into a darker part of the facility. The wallpaper was gone, leaving only naked walls surrounding her and the lights were now simple LED lights hanging from the ceiling. There were doors leading somewhere ever so often, though she didn't enter those doors. Not until she reached the last one at the end of the hallway.

She knew she had to turn around and take a right instead of a left further back, though the door seemed different than the others. It seemed to call to her in a strange way and before she knew what she was doing, her hand was on the doorknob, opening the door.

Maria was surprised to find it unlocked and entered it without hesitating. She found herself in a lab filled with technology she recognized from Tony and Bruce's lab. Though there were machines she didn't recognize too. _And_ there were glass tubes, large ones, placed here and there. They were taller and broader than Maria herself and they were filled with a strange, yellow fluid. The first ones she encountered were empty, though the other ones were not. She frowned at the disfigured thing floating in the tube, something that looked like an umbilical string hanging down towards the bottom of the tube. The others weren't empty either and as she continued to walk further down the lab, she could see the progress the scientists had made. For each tube she passed, the thing inside looked more and more human until it actually looked like a human baby. The next tubes coming after that one were filled with older and older humans. Until she reached one she recognized.

Stopping in her tracks, her entire body freezing as her eyes widened, she looked at the face of the human floating inside of the tube, seeing its peaceful face. It wasn't just a familiar face. It was _hers._

Her heart started to beat fast and both her legs and arms started to shake as she watched herself, a perfect copy of herself, float inside of that tube, naked and unconscious. She started to back away from the thing, not believing her eyes. Each and every tube, all the children and babies, they were all _her_.

Suddenly, she backed into something and the surprise of it made her hand let go of her sword as she turned around. A man was standing there though that was all she managed to see before something was stabbed into her neck and darkness consumed her.

The last thing she heard before she was completely out of it were the words of the man as he caught her body in his arms.

"Ssch… It'll all be alright."

* * *

 **Oo! What do you all think this means? The tubes with copies of her inside? :D let me know! I love reading what you guys think is going to happen!**


	6. Chapter 5, Fatherly Betrayal

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 5~  
Fatherly Betrayal**

 _"Sir, what do we do…"_

 _"Keep 'em busy…"_

 _"Can't let them take it!"_

 _"Then kill them!"_

Darkness was surrounding Maria. From time to time, she would wake up to a hazy world, though it felt wrong. The world around her felt as though it didn't exist when she did wake up and so, she quickly succumbed back to the darkness again.

The face of the man who had attacked her appeared in her mind over and over again. He looked familiar, just like his voice. And deep down, she knew who it was. Though her mind was not letting her think it. Mostly because she didn't believe that he would do something like this to her.

At one point, Maria woke up again and her surroundings felt different. The world around her was still hazy-looking, though it felt more real and she knew that whatever drug they had given to her had finally started to wear off. She found herself strapped to a chair, her hands and feet tied up tightly and as she tried to move, her ankles and wrists hurt her badly.

Her surroundings were slightly foggy still, though she could make out where she was. Although the chair was turned so that her back was towards the room, she knew from the look of the walls that she was still in some sort of a lab. After all, the rest of the facility had looked so much different. In front of her was a desk with a computer screen on it, showing the logo of Hydra. The eyes of the red skull seemed to bore into her soul as she looked at it and she wanted to turn away, though she couldn't.

Footsteps were heard behind her and she straightened her back, her entire body tensing at the sound of it.

"Looky who's awake!" someone said with a sing-song voice. "Finally decided to pay the real world a visit, huh?"

A hand grasped her shoulder and before she knew it, the chair was turned around and she was met with the familiar face of her father. He hadn't aged a day from the looks of it and her eyes narrowed slightly, unsure of what to think about the situation she had found herself in.

"Dad?"

"Oh, you do remember me? Come to pay your old man a little visit?" he asked, straightening up with a smirk on his face. "How kind of you."

"You left for Hydra-"

"You have no idea of why I left," he cut her off, sending her a glare before turning around, his hands behind his back as he started to walk up to one of the tubes Maria had seen before.

"Then tell me," she said, her voice sounding less harsh then it had done earlier.

"Do you like it?" he asked quietly, causing Maria to frown. "My creation?"

Her father placed a hand on the tube with a copy of Maria's unconscious body in it and an uncomfortable feeling made its way up to her heart.

"Why did you leave?" pressed Maria, her voice harsh again.

"Hydra needed me…" was all he replied.

"I don't believe it. Even if Hydra needed you, you wouldn't just leave SHIELD. Those working for SHIELD are loyal. So why _did_ you leave?" asked Maria.

Her father spun around, a menacing look in his eyes that made Maria's heart skip a beat. She couldn't believe how different her father was. Then again, all she had were memories of him from when she was four, maybe three years old. How accurate could those memories be?

"You don't know me," he spat.

"And whose fault is that?" she spat back, causing her father's harsh face to soften slightly.

"I made sure you were alright…" he spoke silently, looking away from her.

"Oh really? Does that mean that you know how mum reacted to you just disappearing? Does that mean that you know what my life has been like?" she said, tears appearing in her eyes. "You left us! And you made my life a living hell…"

"Your mother's reaction was… unfortunate. But I will have you know that none of that was your fault," he said, looking back at her. "You're just like me in so many ways… She just couldn't handle seeing me in you."

"No shit…" mumbled Maria, memories of her past bubbling up to the surface again.

"But I took care of you, little-one," he said, walking up to her and crouching down in front of her, placing her hands on her knees as he looked up at her. "I did."

"What the hell are you talking about? You weren't there for me at all!" she exclaimed, hating the way his presence made her feel calm.

She had wished for a reunion. She had wished for her father to return with her, as she had for so long. But seeing what had become of him, seeing the things that he had done; the cloning of _her_ , was too much for her to bare and she just wanted to go back to Steve again, wishing she had never gone down into the facility to begin with.

"My soldiers are loyal to me and only me. Hydra hates it and I know they want to get rid of me. But as long as I keep giving them more to work on for their enhanced program, they can't hurt me or my men. I made Artur seek you out, give you a job and protect you," he said, nodding his head. " _I_ protected you."

"Protected- Artur made me a murderer!" she exclaimed, not believing what she was hearing.

"To survive as a mutant in a society of low-life scum calls for desperate measures. I told him to train you, make you prepared for what is to come," said Maria's father, a stern look on his face.

"And what is to come?" asked Maria, watching the way he talked about the people she protected with a worried feeling growing in the pit of her stomach.

"A day when all non-mutants will be below us. Or even better, extinct," said her father, standing back up again and turning back to the tube. "A friend of mine has promised me to give me this world."

"I don't understand-"

"I suppose you're against this," her father said, not hearing her words. "Seeing as you're with the Avengers now. Seeing as Artur grew weak and let you choose your own path."

Maria watched as his right hand clenched into a fist, his shoulders tensing.

"You're talking about murdering millions of people… Tell me why I shouldn't be against it?"

"Because you're like us!" he exclaimed, turning back to her. "You're like me…"

Maria was about to protest when suddenly, the rope around her ankles and wrists were loosened by an unknown force while the chair started to slowly roll towards her father, Maria watching as his first kept being clenched together, his back turned towards her still.

"I love you, Maria," he said, finally turning to look at her and it wasn't until he unclenched his hand that the chair stopped rolling, Maria's eyes widening as she realized he had done that. "But I can't have you by my side if you're against me. So, I made the perfect you. A new you that I will train to think like me."

"The hell is wrong with you…" she mumbled.

"You didn't untie yourself," he said. "Meaning she damaged you more than I thought she did."

"Who?"

Though instead of getting an answer, her father suddenly grasped her hands, forcing her up onto her feet again before a knife was pulled against her throat.

"You have the same powers as me," he said through clenched teeth, the knife hurting her neck while his other hand grasped her hair tightly. "So don't think for a second that I don't know how to kill you…"

* * *

 _"I've got the intel!"_

Steve nodded his head before throwing his shield towards the three remaining soldiers, knocking them out instantly while his shield flew back over to him. He caught it easily again before turning to where Tony was hovering in mid-air.

A lump formed in his chest as he looked over at Stark, realizing that Maria was nowhere to be seen. He was about to ask where she was, though Clint beat him to it.

"Where's Dalton?" he asked, Thor, who was standing next to Steve, immediately looking around the area for his friend.

"I thought she'd gotten out by now. We split up when a couple of guards came for us," he said, landing on the ground in front of Steve.

"You left her alone in her father's freaky laboratory?" asked Clint, a frown appearing on Steve's face.

He knew Maria could handle herself. Though he was still worried that something might've happened to her. While Clint and Tony continued to argue over what had happened, Steve moved away from the two, Natasha following him, and he lifted his bracelet up to his mouth, pushing the button to open the com-link.

"Maria, where are you?"

He was met with only static as an answer.

"Jarvis says her bracelet has been deactivated," said Bruce as he exited the Quinjet, walking over to where Natasha and Steve were standing.

"Deactivated?" asked Natasha, "Why would she do that?"

The worry that had formed built up even more inside of him and he slowly lowered his arm again, the grip on his shield tightening as he tried to figure out what to do.

"Can we get a last known location on her bracelet?" asked Steve, turning to Bruce who nodded his head.

Though neither of them had time to do anything more as Thor suddenly positioned himself into his fighting stance, a glare appearing on his face. Steve noticed this and turned to look at what Thor had seen and his chest tightened at the look of it. The bickering of Clint and Tony quieted down as they too saw it and an eerie silence hung over the area while Maria appeared in the doorway of the abandoned cottage, her father walking behind her with a knife resting against her neck, a little trickle of blood already having run down her neck.

"Nobody moves!" exclaimed Erik, peaking at the Avengers from over Maria's shoulder.

He was using his own daughter as cover. Steve clenched his hands into fists, placing his shield on his back.

"I see you've all successfully managed to kill my men!"

"Yeah, so I suggest you let go of Dalton unless you want to die too," said Tony, earning an amused look from Erik.

Maria suddenly made a move, grabbing her sword from her belt and activating it, though something made the sword fly out of her hands and land in the mud before the Avengers and when Steve looked back at the two Daltons, Erik had grabbed a hold of Maria again, his free arm wrung tightly around her shoulders and neck, the knife now pressed harder against her neck. She was holding her balance by grabbing onto her father's arm, at the same time trying to make him loosen his grip though he seemed strong than her.

"Let her go!" exclaimed Steve, taking a step forward.

"Ah, ah!" he exclaimed, another drop of blood running down her neck as he pressed the knife even harder against her skin when Steve moved. "This knife is drenched with _Hydrus Acidulus_. She'll die."

"You would not hurt your own daughter," said Thor, more as a question than a statement.

"I wouldn't?" asked Erik. "Unless you leave in your advanced little jet, I'll kill her. And I mean it."

Clint, who was standing behind Thor and out of eye-sight from Erik, suddenly grabbed an arrow and readied his bow. He exchanged a look with Steve who only shook his head at Clint before Hawkeye looked over the shoulder of Thor at Maria. Steve quickly looked back at Maria, noticing she was pointing with her finger at her own shoulder. It happened to be in the exact same spot as Erik's heart and Steve's eyes widened as he realized she was directing Clint.

The next thing happened way too fast for Steve to understand. In an instant, Clint jumped out from behind Thor and let go of the arrow, sending it flying towards Maria and Erik. Erik noticed this and had already started to move his hand holding the knife when the arrow hit Maria's left shoulder, causing her to let out a cry of pain before the both of them fell backwards to the ground. In an instant, Steve and the others started running up to Maria and unknown to Steve, he had cried out her name loudly while doing so.

Tony arrived first, having used his suit to fly over to the two of them. Immediately, he had removed the arrow from Maria's shoulder before gripping her and lifting her off her father's limp body. Tears were streaming down her cheeks just as fast as blood was making its way out of the wound on her neck and shoulder. Her father had not managed to hurt her too badly, though the _Hydrus Acidulus_ was keeping the wound from heeling.

The moment Steve arrived there, Maria fell into his arms, her hands clutching the fabric of his suit as she buried her face in his chest.

"It's okay," said Steve, Bruce appearing beside them, moving some of Maria's hair to take a closer look at the wound on her neck. "I've got you."

"He's dead," said Tony, referring to Maria's father to which Maria tensed up in Steve's arms.

Stark tossed the arrow back at Clint who caught it, cleaning the blood off of the arrow before placing it back in its holster.

"I need to clean the wound before it can heal," said Bruce quietly, placing a hand on Maria's back. "I'll take her."

Steve nodded, slowly letting go of Maria who looked up at Steve with wide eyes, tears still streaming down her face.

"Burn it," she said simply to which Steve frowned.

He didn't ask her what she had meant as she quickly let go of Steve, Bruce placing an arm around her while he and Natasha led her back to the Quinjet.

"Jeez…" mumbled Tony. "Did she mean her dad's body?"

"I don't think so… He's wearing a lab-coat. Where are the labs?" asked Steve, coming to a conclusion.

"In the eastern corner," said Tony.

"What are you thinking, cap?" asked Clint.

"I say we take a look at what she found," replied Steve before walking past Erik Dalton's lifeless body and back into the cottage.


	7. Chapter 6, Only Your Lips

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 6~  
Only Your Lips**

"What the-"

"Hell," finished Tony, exchanging a look with Steve as the two of them accompanied by Thor and Clint walked through the lab. "Well… At least I now understand what Maria wanted us to burn."

Steve stopped in front of the last tube filled with a strange, brown fluid and an unconscious clone of Maria floating inside of it. He felt slightly awkward about the fact that she was naked, though he avoided those areas and focused entirely on the face. It was a perfect copy of her, though what he didn't understand was why her father had cloned her.

"I can hack this thing so it'll self-destruct," said Tony as he walked over to the computer, glancing back at Steve who nodded his head in consent, before he started working on the computer.

"Why clone lady Maria?" asked Thor as he and Clint came to stand beside Steve.

"I don't know," replied Steve. "But I do know that Maria's father wasn't the man any of us thought."

"Damn right. He's crazy," retorted Clint with a scoff before turning away from the tube.

"A father loves their children no matter what," said Thor, exchanging a look with Steve. "There must be a reason behind this that we do not know."

"Maybe," was the only reply Steve had before Tony walked back over to them.

"We got ten minutes to get out," he informed the three other Avengers to which Steve nodded.

"You go on ahead," said Steve, earning a confused look from Clint. "I gotta do something first."

Reluctantly, the three heroes nodded their heads before heading back towards the exit. Thor turned back to Steve one last time before disappearing out into the hallway, giving Steve a nod of his head as if he knew what Steve was going to do.

And he probably knew it too. After all, Thor had someone he loved just like Steve and if the one person you love asks you to do something, then you do it.

On his way inside of the lab, Steve had seen something interesting. At the left wall of the lab, there were shelves filled with uniforms and gasmasks. From what Steve had read about Hydra's current work, it was to create soldiers that could take on other soldiers with enhanced abilities. Meaning, soldiers like Steve who had enhanced strength. So to find gasmasks and weapons in a lab trying to make ordinary men stronger wasn't something surprising. And much to Steve's delight, there was a flamethrower there.

 _Burn it._

Grabbing the flamethrower and readying it, he walked towards the last tube. He knew he couldn't touch the computer, seeing as it was going to be what would destroy this facility and make its research unreachable to Hydra, though he could touch the tubes holding the defect and perfect clones of Maria. He aimed the flamethrower at the tube with the already grown clone, his finger resting on the trigger, when something held him back. Something caused his finger to not move and he knew it was no outer force.

As he looked at that perfected face, he only saw his Maria. And he couldn't hurt her.

He lowered the flamethrower again, sighing deeply before shaking his head.

"I can't," he said to himself and to Maria, even though he knew she didn't hear him. "I just can't."

A muffled banging was what made Steve tense up again. It was what made Steve ready the flamethrower once more. Though as he saw what was making the muffled banging noise, his eyes only widened and a saddened look appeared on his face.

From inside the tube, the clone was staring right back at him. Her eyes were wide open and her hands were pushed against the glass. For a minute, he wanted to pull the trigger again. Though the look in her eyes stopped him. He saw fear. But not only that. There, deep in her eyes, he saw the same look Maria gave him whenever he said something dorky or whenever he didn't understand something. A look filled with love.

Pain struck him when he realized the clone might know him. That she might have Maria's real memories. Though it didn't make much sense, Steve didn't doubt it since he had seen what Hydra was capable of.

He dropped the flamethrower to the floor before walking up to the tube. Her fearful eyes followed his every move and when he reached up, placing one hand against the glass where one of her hands was resting, the fear disappeared. She instead looked curious, almost seeming to cock her head to the side as she watched her fingers align with his against the glass.

 _"Cap, you got four minutes."_

"Copy that," replied Steve quickly before looking back into the clone's eyes.

She had her eyebrows furrowed as she continued to stare at him. Then, suddenly, a smile appeared on her lips as she removed her hands from the glass, nodding at him. She mouthed the word 'go' to him, much to Steve's surprise, and watched him leave the laboratory she had been conceived in. Had water not been all around her, tears would've been falling down her cheeks.

* * *

"You alright?" asked Natasha as she stayed next to Maria while Bruce walked off to throw away the bloodied wipes.

"I was just shot," replied Maria weakly, putting on a forced smile. "So, yeah, peachy."

"Don't be such a cry-baby," replied Natasha, rolling her eyes. "It's already healed. And besides, that wasn't what I was asking about."

Maria looked at her again, the silliness disappearing from her face as a serious look took over.

Was she?

Her hopes of having a normal father were gone. She had seen clones of herself. And she had been the cause of her father's death.

"My father… He did things," said Maria, earning a frown from Natasha and Bruce, who had joined them again. "Things that he didn't use his hands for."

"I'm not following here," said Bruce.

"I mean, he made things move, without using his hands," said Maria, looking down at her own hands. "And he said he had the same powers as… Oh my God."

"You think you've got his weird telekinetic powers? If he's even gotten those?" asked Natasha.

"No, I mean yes, but… No," said Maria before standing up and running back to the opening of the Quinjet. "Don't you see! He's got the same powers as me!"

Bruce's eyes widened then as his lips formed an O while he stood up too. Though just as Maria was about to step out of the Quinjet, the ground shook harshly, smoke suddenly appearing from the old abandoned cottage.

"What was that?" asked Natasha, she and Bruce both running over to Maria.

Thor, Tony, Clint and Steve jogged back over to where Maria and the others were standing, worried looks on their faces.

"Dalton's gone," said Clint with a grunt as he passed the three of them before sitting himself down, a scowl on his face.

"We were stupid," said Maria, brushing a hand over her face in desperation. "He's got the same powers as me."

"Yeah, we figured," replied Tony as he too passed them by.

"All this for nothing," grunted Clint. "No sceptre. No baddy. Just smoke and a whole lot of weird memories from down there."

Maria shifted on her feet at his words, clearing her throat slightly; "We got the intel we needed, right?"

Tony nodded, all Avengers regrouping around the middle of the Quinjet again as Tony made a map of Europe appear as a hologram in front of them.

"Sokovia," said Tony, a red dot appearing where the city was located. "That's where we'll find the facility that Dalton has been feeding information to about the enhanced program they've got. Apparently, they've got an energy source that can't be found anywhere else on Earth."

"You think it's Loki's sceptre?" asked Thor.

"Oh, I know it is," said Tony. "And you can slap me if I'm wrong."

Thor frowned at his strange words before looking back at Maria and Steve. "Then we are wasting time discussing this."

"I agree," said Steve, nodding his head as he looked over at Clint who had already positioned himself by the panels at the front. "Let's head out."

* * *

The plan was made and everyone knew what was going to happen. Maria wasn't allowed inside the facility this time. No one was except for Tony. The others were going to take the fight outside.

There was still half an hour to go until they were in Sokovia. Coming up with a plan hadn't been too hard nor had it taken much time thanks to the intel they had. Hopefully, the facility would actually be above ground this time.

Currently, everyone was prepping for the fight in their own ways. Most of the Avengers had eaten something and had something to drink already and those still eating were those who needed food the most; Steve and Thor.

In other circumstances, Maria would've made a witty joke about the fact that Steve was holding a tiny plastic plate in his hands while eating with a tiny plastic fork. Though Maria was tired and done with everything life had to offer at the moment. All she did was watch the fork go up and down from the plate and to Steve's mouth as she sat beside him, leaning her head against the wall of the Quinjet and feeling the tiny vibrations of the engines against her skull. They soothed her slightly, though they also made her slightly dizzy.

"If you're still hungry, there's still food," said Steve, glancing back at her, clearly indicating to her following the food from his plate to his mouth.

"Sorry," she replied before looking away.

Steve watched her for a while, his fork in mid-air before he sighed, placing the plate and fork away from him and turning slightly to Maria.

He was about to say something but seemed to think otherwise as she looked at him. Instead, he gently placed a hand on her knee as he continued to look at her, his eyes going from her eyes, to her cheeks, to her mouth and back up to her eyes. And then a smile broke out onto his lips to which Maria frowned slightly.

"Yeah, no… You're the real one," said Steve then, nodding his head.

"I really don't want to talk about _that_ ," said Maria, turning to look away from Steve though he grabbed her chin before she could, gently turning her head to look back at her. "You wanna know how I know?"

Maria didn't reply which she didn't have to either because Steve was already leaning in. He gently placed a kiss against her forehead, his lips lingering there for a while before he pulled away just enough for him to speak; "Only your forehead is this beautiful."

She furrowed his brow at his words, cocking an eyebrow at him as he smirked down at her before he shifted slightly, pressing a kiss to her right cheek; "Only your cheek is this beautiful."

A smile started to appear on her lips as her heart warmed up at his words. Her hands reached up to grab onto Steve's arms, holding him close to her.

Then, he shifted slightly in order to kiss her nose gently; "Only your nose is this beautiful."

She giggled at his antics this time, a genuine smile spreading across her face and reaching her eyes, making them glisten as she looked into his perfect, blue ones. And then, her smile faded as he moved so that his lips were lingering close to Maria's. An intense feeling took over her body then and there. An intense feeling that she hadn't felt before towards anyone. A feeling of neediness; a feeling of pure and other admiration.

"Only your lips are this beautiful," he whispered, his breath touching her lips and making a warm sensation run down her spine.

When he finally kissed her, she relished in the moment of their lips touching. For the first time in their relationship, she completely opened up to him with that one kiss, parting her lips slightly to deepen the kiss even more. It even took Steve off guard and had it not been for the others all around them, Maria would've gone even further.

Though Steve pulled away, his chest heaving slightly from the kiss and a deep look in his eyes as he looked back at her. He suddenly moved as though to kiss her again, though he hindered himself, seeming to remember that there were others around him that could be watching and as he straightened back up, a painful longing filled Maria's chest.

"That's why," he said, breaking eye contact before grasping her hand in his big one.

"Urgh… Get a room," commented Tony from across the Quinjet to which Maria rolled her eyes.

"I've seen you," said Maria, pointing a finger at him, referring to back when she was his cleaner and he still was the playboy he used to be. At one point during her _career_ in the Stark Industries, she had wanted to clean his office, thinking it hadn't been in use. Well, it had been. "Tread carefully or I will tell others."

Tony widened his eyes before mirroring her and pointing his finger at her; "You play dirty."

"I'm not the only one apparently," replied Maria, raising her eyebrows as she talked.

Both Natasha and Clint started to laugh at the offended look on Tony's face and Thor's confused question about what they were talking about. And although Maria chuckled too, her thought were still on the kiss she and Steve had shared. She looked over at Steve who was smiling at Natasha and Clint. It wasn't until Maria squeezed their intertwined hands that he looked over at her.

"I love you," she whispered to him, a wide smile appearing on his lips.

"I love you too."


	8. Chapter 7, Language

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 7~  
Language  
**

The Quinjet landed a little way away from the base. They expected a heavier defense from the Hydra base in Sokovia than what they had gotten back in Germany. Mostly because the scepter was possibly there and seeing as Hydra most likely wanted to keep it, it wouldn't be easy to get to it.

All of them exited the Quinjet, all except for Bruce who stayed behind until he knew the 'other guy' was needed.

"Okay, you all know what to do," said Steve, hopping onto his bike and turning the engines on.

He exchanged a look with Maria who nodded, walking over to Clint and Natasha. "Distract the guards while Tony goes for the base. Yup, got it."

"Myself and Thor will take the eastern side. Nat, Maria and Clint, take the western side. Stark, stay airborne and do your thing," said Steve, repeating the orders once more just in case before he nodded his head, revving the engine of his bike. "Good luck."

And with that said, they were all off. Maria stayed close to her current partners, running alongside of Clint while Natasha ran ahead of them, seeming much faster than either of them.

"I'm getting too old for this," said Clint between breaths as they continued to run through the snow-covered forest.

Maria looked at him, smirking at the non-amused look on Clint's face. She didn't reply though, as they both saw Natasha come to a halt in front of them, taking cover behind a tree. Clint and Maria both stopped running, crouching down as they slowly and quietly moved over to where Natasha was standing, taking cover behind nearby trees.

"Western side; at least thirty men. Two bunkers. Lots of trucks and two towers," said Natasha through the com-link, Maria and Clint peeking out from behind their trees to look at the scene before them.

A sigh escaped Maria's lips. To say that this was more defense than the previous base was an understatement. The three of them would have to truly fight past their potential to take them all out. Thirty soldiers were standing on their own, talking and guarding the western side of the forest surrounding the facility. More soldiers were on the trucks, in the bunkers and on the towers.

 _"Eastern side is less protected. I'll take them out. Thor, head to Maria's side. Help them,"_ said Steve through the com-link.

 _"Is this a code green, guys?"_

"I'm pretty sure it is," replied Maria.

 _"Yes. Code green is go,"_ agreed Steve.

Clint and Natasha looked over at Maria, seeming to wait for orders much to Maria's surprise.

"See that truck over there?" asked Maria, gesturing towards the truck close by them. "Let's take it."

Quickly and without being noticed by anyone, Natasha and Maria made their way through the bushes towards said truck. It had three soldiers on it, all talking in their own language, sometimes laughing at something they had said. Looking at each other, the two women nodded their heads before jumping up onto the truck, taking out one soldier each by hitting them unconscious and throwing them over the side. The last soldier looked at them in shock, starting to, clumsily, reach for his gun to which Maria scoffed before forcing her sword through his chest, the hologram breaking his ribs at the impact before he fell over the edge too.

The sound of bullets was heard and the two women crouched down to take cover.

"Clint!" called Maria through the com-link and soon, Clint had joined them on the truck. "I'll drive."

With Clint and Natasha covering her with bullets and arrows, she made her way to the front, starting the engine before beginning to drive off towards the rest of their defense, meaning the two towers and the bunkers.

Her sword was placed on the seat beside her and so, whenever a bullet was close to hitting her, she could only duck slightly, hoping the others had her back enough for her to not be hit. It wouldn't make a big difference to her if she was hit, but it still hurt of course.

"We've got company!" called Natasha, causing Maria to look through the rearview mirror.

Another truck was following them, the second truck which they hadn't taken out yet. She sighed as it had a weapon attached to it along with a lot of soldiers shooting at them. She steered their truck so that none of the truck's shots hit them, though it was difficult. It became even more difficult when some of the soldiers lifted off of the truck and started to fly towards them.

"The hell!?" exclaimed Clint, shooting arrows at those soldiers.

As much as they tried to make them stay away from them, two soldiers made its way towards the heroes. One attacking Natasha and Clint at the back, and one attacking Maria. Her heart beat fast as she tried her best to punch the soldier while at the same time avoiding to be hit by the other truck. Much to her dismay, the soldier grabbed onto her arm with one hand before placing one hand on the back of her head, grabbing a piece of hair and tugging it enough for her to let out a cry of pain.

She was in a dilemma now. If she let go of the steering wheel, she wouldn't be able to steer the truck anymore and potentially causing the death of Clint and Natasha. Though if she did, she'd be able to grab her sword and get rid of the soldier holding onto her. As she glanced at the man, her eyes widened at the sight of Chitauri armor.

When the man pushed her head forwards, making her forehead hit the steering wheel and causing her sight to disappear for a few seconds, a beam of light hit the soldier, causing him to let go of Maria and fall to the ground before being hit by the truck that was following them. Maria sighed, grabbing onto the steering wheel again before looking up, seeing Tony flying above her. She saluted him, thanking him silently before he flew off, heading towards the tower close by, beginning to shoot at the soldiers there.

The turret stopped shooting at them as Thor appeared breaking it in two with his hammer before throwing Mjölnir at the soldier still attacking Natasha and Clint, ridding them of the man. He flew off towards the tower Tony was attacking, placing himself on the tower itself and using his hammer to throw each and every soldier down to the ground, which was several feet up in the air. The fall rendered them all unconscious, if Thor's hammer hadn't already managed that.

Had neither of them done that, Maria, Natasha and Clint would've been in a pickle seeing as they wouldn't have had a clear shot at the soldiers shooting down at them. More soldiers wearing Chitauri armor appeared which Thor and Tony quickly got rid of. Maria steered the truck past the tower, letting Thor deal with the remaining soldiers on the ground too, as she made her way towards the upcoming bunker.

A familiar sound was heard behind her and as she looked through the now cracked rearview mirror, she saw Steve heading their way on his motorcycle, skillfully taking out soldiers and she smiled slightly.

As another truck appeared in front of Steve, Thor jumped down on its front, causing it to flip over before it could hurt Steve in any way with its weapons. The truck was caught by the Hulk who only just had appeared. He held it up above his head with ease, breaking it in two before throwing it away and continuing to take out soldiers coming at the truck all wearing Chitauri armor alongside of Steve, Thor and Tony.

The bunker ahead of them was surrounded by a heap off dirt along with a fence made out of barbed wire. Maria skillfully pressed the break on the truck while steering fully to the left, causing the car to flip over the barbed wire while at the same time giving Nat, Clint and Maria a boost to jump over the barbed wire. Right before Maria did jump out of the car, she grabbed her sword, holding it in front of her as she gracefully flew over the barbed wire. Steve used his bike to jump over the barbed wire with ease while Tony, Thor and the Hulk had no problems getting over the fence. The soldiers standing there shot a few bullets at them before turning around and beginning to run away, though no one let them, attacking them while Tony flew ahead of them, sending a shot at the bunker which caused it to explode.

"Guys!" called Maria as she hit the soldier close to her over the head. "I don't know if you've noticed-" another man appeared in front of her, shouting something she didn't understand before she thrust her sword into his stomach, the pain of it rendering him unconscious. "But they've got Chitauri armor!"

 _"Yup. Noticed!"_ called Clint through the com-link.

 _"Where'd they get it?"_ asked Maria.

 _"I'm about to find out. I've got vision on the facility!"_ said Tony before a groan was heard coming from him. _"Shit!"_

 _"Language,"_ called Steve through the com-link. _"Jarvis, what's the view from upstairs?"_

 _"The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield,"_ said Jarvis. _"Strucker's technology is well beyond any other Hydra base we've taken."_

 _"Loki's scepter must be here,"_ said Thor from where he was fighting soldiers. _"Strucker couldn't mount this defense without it. At long last."_

From behind Maria, a soldier shot a beam of light at her, causing her to fall to the ground, her face hitting the snow that covered it. Natasha saw this and immediately took down the soldier, electrifying him through the parts that weren't covered in Chitauri armor before she helped Maria up from the ground.

"'At long last' is lasting a little long, boys," replied Natasha, holding onto Maria's arm as she let her wound heal, the assassin shooting whatever soldier was still there, covering Maria.

 _"Yeah, I think we lost the element of surprise,"_ replied Clint from where he was fighting off incoming soldiers, looking back at Maria and Natasha.

A cold shiver ran down Maria's back as she let out a sigh of relief, nodding her head at Natasha who let go of her before running over to the incoming soldiers. Maria straightened her back, feeling the torn fabric brushing against her skin and knowing that she most likely needed a new suit after this mission. Not only was there now a hole by her shoulder from where Clint had shot her earlier, but the back was completely torn open now.

Grabbing her sword once more, she joined Natasha where she was fighting soldiers, jumping up on the back of one, skillfully wrapping her legs around his torso before letting her weight pull him down to the ground where she cut her sword through him, rendering him unconscious.

 _"Wait a second, no one else is gonna deal with the fact that Cap just said 'language'?"_ asked Tony, earning a scoff from Maria before she attacked the next soldier.

 _"I know… Just slipped out."_

"Clint, bunker," said Maria, gesturing towards said bunker which was shooting at them.

He nodded his head before disappearing through the trees, leaving Natasha and Maria to deal with the remaining soldiers. They were fifteen of them and luckily, none of them had any Chitauri armor on. Three of them were closing in on Maria, the others shooting bullets at her which she just about managed to dodge with her sword, a new skill she didn't know where she'd gotten. Turning on her left glove, she jumped up against the tree, staying hanging there for a while before boosting off of it and landing on three of the soldiers. She gracefully managed to roll over and end up on her feet again right after she landed on the three soldiers, before continuing the fight.

"Clint!" exclaimed Natasha, causing Maria to tense up, hearing the distress in the assassin's voice.

Quickly, she took out the last soldier that had been attacking them before making her way towards Clint and Natasha, seeing Clint down on the ground, groaning in pain, with Natasha crouched down next to him. The bunker was still firing at them, so Maria couldn't make her way over to them.

 _"We have an enhanced in the field!"_ said Steve through the com-link.

 _"Clint's hit,"_ said Natasha.

Maria clenched her teeth in annoyance as the bunker kept shooting her way, making it impossible for her to check on Clint.

"Somebody wanna deal with that bunker!?" exclaimed Maria, irritated.

Almost immediately, the Hulk's roar echoed through the forest as he appeared by the bunker, doing just as Maria had asked and dealing with the bunker by running straight through it. He looked over at her briefly, her nodding her head at him, before he continued to take out the remaining soldiers while Maria ran towards Clint and Natasha.

"Clint…" breathed Maria, crouching down next to him while Natasha injected some painkillers into his system. "You always carry that around?"

"You never know when you're gonna need it," said Natasha, winking at Maria before taking out some bandages from her utility belt, pressing them against Clint's wound.

"That looks nasty," said Maria, hissing slightly to which Clint rolled his eyes.

"That your professional conclusion?" asked Clint through gritted teeth, earning a roll of Maria's eyes in return.

Pain burst through Maria's arm suddenly, causing her to cry out in pain before she turned around, seeing multiple soldiers advancing on their location.

"Get him back to the Quinjet," said Maria, fiddling with her wound in order to take out the bullet that was still stuck there. "I'll cover you."

Grabbing one of Natasha's guns, leaving the other for her to use in defense, Maria stood up while turning around, beginning to shoot at the soldier's feet, causing them to take cover. From behind her, Natasha flung Clint's arm around her shoulders before helping him off, the two of them jogging away from the scene as best as they could. With her left hand shooting at the soldiers and her right hand dodging any bullets that came her way, Maria advanced on the soldiers. Luckily, Steve and Thor soon joined her and together, the three of them were fast in taking them all out.

 _"The drawbridge is down, people,"_ said Tony through the com link as Maria, Steve and Thor all walked over to each other.

"The enhanced?" asked Thor, looking at Steve.

"He's a blur," said Steve. "All the new players we've faced, I've never seen this. In fact, I still haven't."

"How's Clint doing?" asked Maria through the com-link.

 _"He's hurt pretty bad. I've got him back at the Quinjet now,"_ replied Natasha. _"But he's gonna need evac and… there's more coming our way."_

"I can get back to Barton, keep them safe. You, lady Maria and Stark secure the scepter," said Thor, glancing between Maria and Steve who both nodded their heads.

"Copy that," said Steve, agreeing to the plan.

"More idiots on the way," sighed Maria, looking at something behind Steve and Thor.

The two men turned around, seeing a couple more soldiers heading their way. Thor smirked; "Looks like they're lining up."

"Well," sighed Steve as he prepped his shield onto his arm. "They're excited."

Maria placed her hands over her ears as she watched Thor hit Steve's shield with his hammer, a wave of electricity hitting the incoming soldiers, knocking them all down to the ground. She smiled at the success, mostly happy she didn't have to fight anymore seeing as she was getting tired.

"Find the scepter," said Thor before heading off towards the Quinjet.

 _"And for gosh sake, watch your language!"_ exclaimed Tony through the com-link with sarcasm dripping down his words.

Maria smiled widely at the amused yet tired look on Steve's face as he shook his head at Tony's comment.

"That's not going away any time soon…" sighed Steve, earning a chuckle from Maria.

"Nope," she replied.

* * *

 **Sorry about the lack of updates last week-end. Had too much homework to be able to work on anything :( But, I'll update tomorrow again to make up for it :) This chapter was a lot of action but I promise, you'll get some sweet Maria/Steve moments tomorrow along with some exciting revelations! :D in the meantime, don't be afraid to comment. I appreciate all comments even though I can't reply to them seeing as they're usually guests (Hi, by the way!). Truly, I appreciate it a lot :)**


	9. Chapter 8, Revels

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 8~  
Revels  
**

The snow creaked underneath of their boots as they jogged through the forest and towards the facility. There were currently no more soldiers waiting to ambush them. At one point, a lonely guard had tried to attack them, though Steve had easily knocked him out with his shield before the two of them continued running.

"Clint'll be okay, right?" asked Maria suddenly as they passed the fences surrounding the facility.

They stopped running, instead moving forwards in a fast pace. Steve glanced at her, seeing the distress and worry mixed together in her eyes and the effort she was making to keep a serious and focused look on her face.

"Of course. Clint is strong," he replied before placing a hand on her arm, stopping her and turning her towards him. "It's okay to worry. But right now, we've gotta stay focused on the mission. The more we concentrate on getting the scepter, the faster we can get it and the faster we can get Clint medical help."

"Yeah…" breathed Maria, nodding her head slightly. "Of course."

Steve nodded his head once more, seeing the doubt on her face before letting go of her and continuing to move forwards. Maria stayed behind slightly before she followed him.

The facility looked abandoned both on the outside and the inside. The hallway they entered was dusty and completely empty of any indications that it was in use. Of course, that was what Hydra wanted people to think. Maria was sure that, wherever Tony was now, there were actual computers and things normally used inside of a facility like that.

 _"We're locked down out here,"_ said Natasha's voice through the com-link.

"Then get Banner. It's time for a lullaby," said Steve, earning a look from Maria.

"You haven't heard it?" asked Steve, earning a shake of Maria's head. "A new technique Bruce has come up with to make the Hulk give him the wheel back."

"Oh…" was all Maria replied as they continued down the hallway. "That explains all the whispering she and Bruce has been doing lately. For a moment, I thought they were dating or something."

Steve chuckled; "Do you see Natasha dating anyone?"

"I see her dating Clint," replied Maria nonchalantly to which Steve chuckled again.

"Nah, their relationship is… different somehow," replied Steve.

Maria was about to ask him what he was talking about, when a guard appeared in front of her, punching her square in the jaw. Steve immediately reacted by kicking the guy, easily knocking him off his feet and through the doorway he had been hiding behind. Steve looked back at Maria who gestured to him that she was okay, her hand placed against her painful jaw. With an angered look on his face, Steve turned back to the guard. However, as he was about to render the guard unconscious, he stopped in the doorway much to the surprise of Maria as he had truly looked very irritated at the guard.

"Baron Strucker," said Steve, letting Maria know exactly why he had stopped. Quickly, she walked over to him, joining him by his side as the familiar chilly feeling took over her jaw, the pain going away again. "Hydra's number one thug."

"Technically, I'm a thug for SHIELD," said Strucker as Steve walked up to him, Maria crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well, then _technically_ , you're unemployed," replied Steve back, earning a smirk from Maria. "Where's Loki's scepter?"

"Don't worry, I know when I'm beat," said Strucker with a dry laugh. "You'll mention how I cooperated, I hope."

"We'll put it right under 'illegal human experimentation'," replied Steve sarcastically. "How many are there?"

Suddenly, from out of the dark, a woman appeared next to Steve. However, before he or Maria could react, she had managed to push Steve down a close-by staircase while Maria was thrown up against the wall. The woman's abilities had appeared to the both of them as a red fog and a strange, hot sensation had occurred on the spot where her powers had hit Maria. The faint pain from having been thrown against the wall before hitting the floor was not what Maria thought about. Instead, she thought about the strange, red color of those powers and how they had intrigued her.

As Steve ran up the stairs again, the woman used her powers to quickly move away from them, disappearing into the darkness again.

"We have a second enhanced. Female. Do not engage," reported Steve through the com-link. "Maria?"

"I'm fine," sighed Maria, standing back up. "Just done with this all."

"You'll have to be faster than that if-" with a roll of Maria's eyes, she punched Strucker in the face, causing him to fall backwards with a groan before he even had time to react to what she had done.

"You were saying?" asked Maria, earning a smirk from Steve who picked up his shield from the ground.

"Let's find Stark," said Steve, earning a nod from Maria.

"What about him?"

"Hydra'll deal with him and his failure better than we can," said Steve.

 _"Guys, I've got eyes on the price,"_ said Tony's voice through the com-link, making Steve and Maria look at each other.

"Good. Grab it and head back to the Quinjet. We'll meet you there," replied Steve.

* * *

She was seated on the cot next to Clint, her eyes moving between his pale face and his wound, seeing the bandage becoming redder and redder the more minutes passed by. Thor walked past her, placing a hand on her arm to which she looked up at the Asgardian. He offered her a smile, a sympathetic one.

"It's not fair…" mumbled Maria, earning a confused look from Thor. "Why can I only heal myself? If I have to have this ability… can't I be able to heal others too?"

"I do not know," said Thor. "All I do know is that Barton will be alright even without your help."

He squeezed her arm lightly, and she forced a smile towards him as he passed them, walking over to the box that held Loki's sceptre. A cold hand was placed on her knee and she looked over at Clint, seeing him staring up at her.

"Hey, don't you dare start blaming yourself for this," he said quietly.

"I don't. I mean, you were being clumsy," she said, winking at him to which he rolled his eyes. "I'm just worried about you. This is a bad wound."

"Yeah, real nasty," he replied before shaking his head slightly. "I'll be fine. Relax a little. You look like you need it."

He removed his hand from her knee and looked at her pointedly, earning a sigh from Maria as she stood up from his cot, sitting down at the other side of the Quinjet where Bruce was sitting on the floor, calming down after the fight. He looked rather distraught, his headphones playing calming music for him. As he noticed her presence, he took them off, glancing at Maria slightly.

"You almost look worse than me," he said to Maria, causing her to look into his eyes.

She smiled before shifting so she too was sitting on the floor, next to Bruce. "Is it that bad?"

"Don't worry. It's been a rough day for all of us," said Bruce.

"How are you feeling?" asked Maria to which Bruce looked at her with surprised eyes before he let out a sigh.

"I'd rather not think about me right now."

"He helped us a great deal," replied Maria, offering him a smile. " _You_ helped us a great deal."

"Yeah… But at what cost?" asked Bruce. "I'm just waiting for it to go wrong again. For him to lose control…"

"I know what you mean… There's a reason I didn't want to use a real sword anymore," replied Maria quietly.

Bruce grasped her hand, much to her surprise, causing her to look at him again. "If that ever happens… If you ever feel a pull to your old self, I have some tricks up my sleeves to gain control again."

Maria smiled, a genuine smile, as she squeezed his hand.

* * *

"So, have you given it to her yet?"

Steve looked up at the source of the voice, seeing Tony sitting in a chair by the controls, turned fully to Steve who was sitting close by Clint's cot, his elbows resting on his knees.

"You don't just give it…" replied Steve with a sigh, looking back down at his hands again.

"Well, no. But it's been weeks since we bought it," replied Tony. "No big plan for where you're gonna pop the-"

"Ssch," said Steve quietly, both men looking over at Maria who was talking quietly to Bruce, not even noticing them watching her.

"What are you two talking about?" asked Clint quietly, turning his head to look at Steve and Tony.

Steve sighed, running a hand over his face before he straightening up slightly, glancing over to where Maria was and seeing that she was still caught up in talking to Bruce. Slowly, he let his fingers edge towards the pockets of his suit's pants, unzipping it and retrieving a little black, velvet box.

Clint gawked slightly at the box before turning his head to look over at Maria, seeing her not paying any attention to anyone but Bruce, Natasha and Thor who all seemed to be having a conversation together.

Slowly, Steve opened the box, his eyes inspecting the ring inside of it along with the small diamonds surrounding the larger one in the middle. He smiled slightly before a frown took over on his face and he closed the box.

"Finding the courage to fight Hydra's goons is easy. But asking that one silly little question… That's some courage you need for that," said Clint, earning looks from both Tony and Steve.

"Man, sometimes I wonder if you've got some kind of secret life we don't know about or something," said Tony to which Clint chuckled.

"I'd never be able to keep anything secret from the great Tony Stark," said Clint to which Tony commented back again.

Though Steve blocked the two out, focusing on the box in his hands. He had been having it in his pockets for the past five weeks, having decided to ask her while he was away with Sam in search of Bucky. He had no doubt in his mind about whether or not he wanted to do it, though it was her answer that worried him. Of course they loved each other, but he was still insecure. What if she didn't even want to get married? He had heard that some couples didn't do that anymore.

"Hey, cap," said Tony, making Steve look over at him again, surprised to find a genuinely sympathetic look on his face. "She'd never say no."

Steve didn't reply, instead he placed the box back into his pocket, Clint and Tony exchanging a look.

"Hey, Banner," called Tony, earning the attention from Bruce and the others. "Doctor Cho is on her way in from Seoul. Is it okay if she sets up in your lab?"

"Yeah, she knows her way around," said Bruce, nodding his head.

"Thanks," replied Tony, before turning to the controls again, beginning to mutter some things before suddenly exclaiming; "Jarvis, take the wheel."

 _"Yes, sir. Approach vector is locked."_

Maria watched as Tony walked over to where Thor was standing in front of the box holding the sceptre. Steve joined the two, watching it with his hands placed on his belt, standing stoically in a way that made Maria's stomach buzz with warmth along with a longing for him. A longing to hold him in her arms and sense his familiar scent.

She shook herself out of it though as Tony started talking; "It feels good, yeah? I mean, you've been after this thing since SHIELD collapsed. Not that I haven't enjoyed our little raiding parties, but…"

"No, but this… This brings it to a close," said Thor, smiling widely as he looked down at the sceptre proudly.

"As soon as we find out what else this has been used for," added Steve, noting to everyone that is wasn't quite over yet. "I don't just mean weapons. We saw soldiers wearing Chitauri armor and those enhanced… I don't know about you, but I've never heard of anyone _making_ enhanced."

"You can activate hidden mutant gens… But to actually add them to the DNA…" said Maria from her spot on the floor.

"Banner and I'll give it the once over before it goes back to Asgard," said Tony before looking at Thor, directing his next question to him; "Is that cool with you? I mean, just a few days until the farewell party. You're staying, right?"

Thor nodded his head; "Yes, yes of course. A victory should be honoured with revels!"

"Yeah, who doesn't love revels. Captain?" said Tony, turning to look at Steve who looked at the sceptre seriously.

"Hopefully this puts an end to the Chitauri and Hydra, so, yes. Revels," replied Steve with a little smile directed at Maria who smiled back.

* * *

Maria was laying on her bed, her pajamas on which consisted of a far too big, white, shirt and a pair of dark leggings. In her hands, she held a book that she was currently reading though her focus was not on the book at the moment. Her thoughts were on the previous mission she had just been on; on her father. He was gone now; disappeared out into the world somewhere. And although she doubted she would ever see him again, at least she didn't want to meet him again after what he had done to her, she still felt as though he was going to appear in her life again.

Her hopes of being able to talk to him and ask him about why he left had been crushed the moment she found herself strapped to that chair by him; Erik Dalton. At least she now knew why Zola had called her _little Dalton_. Though she still didn't quite understand why he had left her and her mother all alone; why he had chosen Hydra before SHIELD.

A sigh escaped her lips as her mind wandered over to the upcoming day. Although she was now done with the mission, Loki's sceptre was found and Thor didn't need their aid anymore, the upcoming day was not going to be much fun to her. It was the anniversary of her grandmother's death; the one day she always went to her grave. She had been distraught at the Quinjet when she thought she wouldn't be home before that very day though now that she was, she still felt distraught. It felt as though it was her fault her grandmother was dead even though she knew that the old woman had been gone the moment the stroke happened to her.

"Sorry," said a voice from the doorway, causing Maria to jump slightly before looking over at the source of the voice. "I didn't mean to interrupt."

Steve stood there, wearing his pajamas. He hadn't bothered to knock on the door, seeing as they actually lived together even though Tony had given them separate rooms. Though he must've seen how far away in her own world she was and thought she wanted to be alone, which was the exact opposite of what she wanted at that moment.

She closed her book, shaking her head at Steve as she placed the book on the nightstand table beside the bed. "Don't apologize. You're always welcome here… That sounded sexual, sorry."

"Don't apologize," replied Steve, avoiding eye contact with her which showed his insecurity after he had said that even though his voice had been as confident as ever.

He walked over to the bed, sitting down on the opposite side of it and leaning his back against the wall. He looked at her, a soft smile on his lips as his eyes travelled all over her face, causing a faint blush to appear on her cheeks.

With a sigh, she let herself glide down onto her back, pulling the covers over her and stretching her entire body once before closing her eyes. The bed shifted underneath of her and as she opened her eyes again, she saw that Steve had mirrored what she had done, pulling the covers over himself as well and resting his head on his pillow. Maria smiled at the satisfied look on Steve's face as she propped herself up on one arm, turning to Steve and watching him as he looked over at her, smiling back at her.

"Maria-" he began, his voice sounding serious and she knew exactly what he wanted to talk about. At least, she knew a few things that he could want to talk about, so she shushed him, shaking her head.

"Let's not talk about anything annoying now…" she said with a sigh, earning a nod from Steve. "Let's talk about how handsome you are."

Steve laughed at that, smiling as Maria placed her hand on his chest, shifting closer to him.

"That would be a short conversation," replied Steve, grabbing her hand softly, intertwining their fingers. "Maybe we should talk about how beautiful you are instead."

Maria giggled, earning a wide smile from Steve. "Now _that's_ a short conversation."

His hand travelled up her arm, sending shivers down her spine, before softly travelling up her neck and stopping at her cheek, his thumb gently brushing over her cheekbone.

"I could talk about how beautiful you are all day…" said Steve softly.

Shifting even closer to Steve, the both of them intensely looking into each other's eyes, she let her hand that had been left to rest on his stomach, wander up to his chest. He was wearing a shirt, though she could feel every muscle through the thin fabric, a smile appearing on her lips as Steve blushed deeply at the affection she showed.

As Steve slowly and softly, used his hand on her cheek to guide her face closer to his, her fingers curled around the fabric of his shirt, the kiss they shared feeling needy and warmer than their kisses had done before.

This was normally the part where they would break apart, looking at each other and smiling before turning the lights off and going to bed. Though as Maria broke the kiss apart, Steve removed his hand from her cheek and placed it on her waist, bringing her closer to him before kissing her again. Her eyes widened slightly before she relaxed into the kiss, using her hand on his shirt to pull him over her, letting him hover over her.

"I love you," she said between kisses.

"I love you too," he replied before attacking her lips again.

* * *

 **I'm not going to write more intense smut then that. Mostly because it's a little awkward to write it down. I don't mind reading smut (hehe) but to write it always makes me feel awkward. Hence why all my stories are T-rated. Max.**

 **What did you think of Steve wanting to propose to Maria? :D Where do you think he will do it? How do you think he will do it? Let me know! :)**


	10. Chapter 9, Awkward

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 9~  
Awkward**

A hand brushed over her cheek, pulling her out of her dreamless sleep. Warmth was wrapped around her, her head resting on her pillow. Someone had covered her naked body with the duvet and as she awoke, she breathed in deeply, hugging the duvet closer to her.

"Morning," she mumbled into the pillow, her eyes opening slightly.

"Morning," Steve replied close to her ear.

Breathing in deeply again, she turned around to face Steve, his arm wrapping around her waist and pulling her close as he placed a kiss on her forehead.

"God, I love waking up like this," said Maria, a wide smile spread over her lips.

"I don't mind it either," replied Steve, his head still resting on his pillow, his thumb tracing circles on her waist. "Stay with me today… Let's just have a nice day to ourselves."

Maria smiled widely, beginning to nod her head as she placed a hand on his cheeks, her fingers softly tracing the outlines of his cheekbones and jawline. However, her smile soon faded and her hand fell down to the space between the two of them as she remembered what day it was. With a shake of her head, she sat up, holding the duvet in place so she was covered.

"I can't… I have to be somewhere today," she replied, rubbing a hand over her face.

A silence hung over them for a while before Steve sat up as well, causing Maria to look at him with sad eyes. "I'm sorry… There's nothing else I would've wanted but to-"

"You don't regret it, do you?"

Maria's mouth hung open for a while, taking in his rushed question as well as the panicked look on his face. He looked lost. So immensely lost, that all Maria wanted to do was hug him and make him feel just how much she loved him.

"Regret? No! I would never," said Maria, turning to him and placing her free hand on his cheek again, the panic in his eyes slowly disappearing. "Steve, you're mine and I'm yours. That's the way it is. What happened last night was…"

"Fantastic," replied Steve, a cockish grin on his lips, causing Maria to giggle slightly.

"Yes, Steve… Fantastic," said Maria before pecking his lips softly. "I really want to stay here today. But I can't… I have somewhere to be."

Steve nodded his head. "You'll be back tonight, right?"

"Yeah," replied Maria as she shifted so her legs were dangling from the bedside. "If I can borrow one of Tony's cars, that is."

* * *

"Wow. Eleven thirty," said Clint, looking up from his cup of coffee as Steve entered the kitchen. "I thought you were a morning person."

Steve sighed slightly - not an annoyed sigh, but a happy sigh – as he walked over to the coffee machine and poured himself a cup of his own. He didn't really need it, the coffee that is, since the super soldier serum made the coffee useless. Though he enjoyed the taste of it along with the feeling of being like the others.

"I usually am not, actually. I just have trouble sleeping most of the times," said Steve, sitting down at the kitchen table. "How are you feeling?"

"Good. I can't tell the difference between the real skin and the fake skin at all," said Clint, earning a nod from Steve. "Quite amazing actually."

Steve avoided telling Clint that most things amazed him nowadays, seeing as Clint probably knew and so, he simply continued staring straight ahead of him, a soft smile playing on his lips as he thought about the previous night.

The hairs on his back rose and he looked over at Clint who was staring intensely at him. Steve cocked an eyebrow at the archer, silently asking him what he was seeing that was so interesting.

Suddenly, a grin was plastered onto Clint's lips, his eyes twinkling with amusement before he fist-bumped Steve's upper arm, only confusing said super soldier. "Don't think you can fool me, cap."

"Fool you?" asked Steve.

"Did you see some action last night?"

"I-I don't understand – action where?" asked Steve, earning a chuckle from Clint at the same time as Thor entered the kitchen.

"Is lunch served yet?" he boomed, petting his stomach slightly to which Steve and Clint looked over at him.

"Dude, you gotta make lunch yourself," said Clint before beginning to laugh at the expression on Thor's face. "I hang out with the strangest of people."

While Thor plummeted through the kitchen, trying his best to make something he wanted to eat, Clint turned back to Steve, his expression less amused now after having laughed for a while.

"How are you going to ask her?" asked Clint, earning a sigh from Steve.

"I don't know yet," he replied. "I've been trying to find a perfect moment but it's hard."

"You gotta make your own perfect moment," said Clint. "Otherwise, you're gonna have to wait a long time, pal. It's a full moon this night. How about you take her to some place where you can truly see it and ask her under the moon light? Sounds romantic, right?"

Steve smiled slightly at the archer's words, nodding his head. "It does."

"There's a perfect balcony at the eastern sight of the building. The view over the city is amazing; breathtaking," said Clint, gesturing with his hands as if he was seeing the view in front of him. "I can't even begin to imagine what it will look like in the moonlight."

"Asgard is filled with romantic places," said Thor as he sat himself down next to Steve. "Why are we discussing romance?"

"Cap's proposing to Dalton," said Clint before Steve could reply, earning a glare from Steve.

"I don't want everyone to know," replied Steve before Thor placed a rough hand on Steve's shoulder.

"Congratulations, my friend," said Thor loudly, shaking Steve's shoulder slightly before he let go of him and began eating the sandwich he had made himself.

"She hasn't said yes yet," replied Steve quietly, looking down at his cup of coffee before him.

"No, but she will," replied Clint. "Now, chicks love it if you give them a romantic memory about the proposal. Just keep that in mind."

Steve narrowed his eyes, looking at Clint suspiciously. "You seem like an expert."

"I've seen a lot of movies," replied Clint, standing up and placing his mug in the dishwasher. "That's all."

* * *

"Here she is," said Tony, patting the roof of the red sport's car at the far end of the garage underneath of the Avenger's Tower. "Smooth engine-"

"Tony, remember, I don't care if the car is any good. I just need something to get to Hell's Kitchen in," said Maria, hindering him from saying anything else about the car as she had just listened to him ramble on about his cars during the five-minute elevator ride down to said cars.

"Fine," huffed Tony, throwing the keys over to Maria. "Better not scratch the paint."

"I won't," replied Maria with a sigh, unlocking the car and opening the car door.

Tony watched her as she took off her trench coat, putting it on the backseat, feeling more relaxed to drive without a jacket restraining her movements.

"You, uh, not spending the day with cap?" asked Tony, trying his best to sound casual as he asked her this.

"No. I have to do this first," said Maria before looking over at him. "Why?"

"Oh, nothing," replied Tony quickly, holding his hands up slightly before backing away from the car. "Just asking. Have a nice day."

Maria raised an eyebrow at his odd behavior, watching him walk away, glancing back at her once in a while. She shook her head, sitting down in front of the wheel and immediately feeling overwhelmed by the amount of buttons and advanced stuff there were in there. Luckily, the gas-pedal and break-pedal were where they were supposed to be along with the wheel. Driving the car felt different too, though it went well after a few minutes of getting used to the different noises it made, and before she knew it, she had already arrived at the graveyard. She parked the car and exited, heading immediately for the small flower shop where she bought a bouquet of flowers she knew her grandmother loved. Funnily enough, her grandmother, unlike her mother, adored roses. She wondered if there was a connection between it briefly before she headed out amongst the grave stones.

There was a small pond in the middle of the graveyard filled with all sorts of waterplants, small fishes and lots of tiny fairy statues, making it look as though the fairies were dancing on the water. She smiled at the fairies, remembering how odd she had thought it to be to have such a pond in the middle of a graveyard the first time she had come to visit her grandmother's gravestone.

"Hey granny," said Maria, placing herself in front of the white gravestone, looking down at it with saddened eyes. Slowly, she crouched down, placing the bouquet on the grass in front of the stone.

She spent almost an hour just being there, sitting on her knees in front of the gravestone and just talking. Beside her grandmother's gravestone, her grandfather lay. He had agreed to joining the Miller's when he died only a few weeks before that did indeed happen. It had been during a normal family meal that he had said that, mostly for fun as they had been joking about the strange part of the graveyard where all the Millers were buried. No one had ever thought that a drunk driver was going to make sure that he did indeed get to rest there years before he was supposed to.

She spent some time talking to him too, telling him about what had happened in her life. She hadn't done that before and honestly; she didn't know why she was talking to them at all. They were dead, gone, and couldn't hear her. Yet it felt soothing and less painful to visit their graves by pretending that they did indeed hear her. Luckily, the part of the graveyard where the Millers were buried was far away from where the other visitors were walking around, so nobody heard her talking to the graves.

It was when her stomach started to protest about her having skipped breakfast and lunch that she stood up again, quieting down and simply staring down at the name of her grandmother.

"I'm sorry," she said before turning to the right and beginning to make her way to the car again.

Before truly leaving, she sent a glare towards her mother's grave.

* * *

Standing on the balcony Clint had showed him earlier that day, Steve breathed in the city air. It was slightly chilly outside, making the air feel fresh inside of his lungs despite the pollution that filled the air. He still found it odd how much the air had changed from before he went down into the ice. It felt less fresh and warmer, almost thicker. The air was just one of many strange things he'd probably never get used to.

The doors behind him opened and he took in a quick breath of air, his heart beginning to beat faster. The small, velvet box he had been holding in his hands, was placed back into the pocket he had been keeping it the past five weeks.

The stars were looking down at them as was the full moon. Her shoulder brushed against his upper arm as she joined him by the railing. When he glanced over at her, he saw her hair flow perfectly down over her shoulders, moving slightly in the chilly evening wind.

"You wanted to talk to me," she said before chuckling slightly. "You know you could've just come down to fetch me. Using Jarvis to call me seems so… formal. After last night, you really don't need to be formal with me anymore."

A blush appeared on Steve's cheeks, spreading down his neck as he swallowed loudly, causing her to chuckle again. She always seemed so calm around him, yet he was always a nervous wreck. Lately, he had actually started to get used to having such a beautiful woman around him, though now that their relationship was moving forward, he became nervous again.

"I know," he said, letting out a content sigh. "I've never gone this far with a lady before. A-A woman."

"It's okay. We'll just move on slowly from where we are now," replied Maria, nodding her head at her own words, as though it was the first time she'd thought like that about their situation and she was agreeing to what she had just said.

"I don't regret it," replied Steve quickly, thinking that maybe she thought he did after what he had just said. "I really don't. But it did make me think about something."

"What?" she asked, her eyes widening slightly and her voice sounding insecure. Steve turned fully to Maria with a shake of his head at her reaction.

"No, it's nothing bad," he quickly said. "It's actually more of a question."

"Oh," she breathed out relieved. "What sort of question?"

"A-A good one," he stammered out.

The velvet box burned inside of his pocket. He wanted to rip it out so badly. Rip it out, show her the ring and then see it on her finger. See it twinkle in the moonlight. Feel the proudness of seeing that very ring on her finger, showing to everyone that she was on her way to fully be his.

"Look at me," said Maria, pulling Steve out of his thoughts. He must've looked very confused and scared, seeing a comforting look on Maria's face. "You know you can ask me anything."

Steve nodded his head, about to open his mouth and pop the question, his fingers edging closer to his pocket.

"Well…" she suddenly said.

His eyes shot over to hers, seeing the doubtful look on her face that quickly turned into one of regret as his shoulders sunk slightly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to be like this. It's just that… well, it's the, uh, anniversary of my granny's death…"

Steve's heart sunk, his fingers moving away from his pocket. This wasn't the day for it. Creating his own perfect day hadn't worked. Though he didn't think about that too much as a tear slipped down Maria's face, causing his heart to ache slightly.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know," said Steve, placing a hand on her arm, his thumb tracing circles over the fabric of her jumper, trying to calm her down as best as possible. She sniffed quietly, before brushing away the stray tear from her cheek. "You've never really talked about it to me."

"No…" she mumbled. "It hurt too much to do so. Steve, I pulled the plug."

"What do you mean?"

"I used all the money I could to bribe that doctor. But he just wanted more and more. In the end, I ended up on the streets. Didn't have anything left. Whatever money I could scramble together; I gave to him. You see, they wanted to use the bed for other patients. But I couldn't live without her. And then Artur found me… I didn't live on the streets anymore at least. Four years ago now, I had just joined the Avengers. Four years ago now, I turned the machines off."

"I know what it's like to have someone close to you fading away," said Steve, earning a look from Maria.

"Peggy?"

Steve gave her a surprised look to which she smiled; "I saw the files, Steve. And I understand. You loved her."

"I…" He wanted to say something to tell her she was the one that he loved now. Though he couldn't deny the feelings he had towards Peggy.

"It's okay. It's not like I denied my feelings for Artur," said Maria. "As long as your loyal to me-"

"Always," said Steve, placing an arm around her waist and placing his cheek against hers, feeling the smile on her face against his cheek. "Were you at her grave?"

"Yes…" He felt her smile disappear again.

"I would've loved to meet her. She seemed like a great woman," said Steve, the smile returning again.

"Oh, she would've loved you, Steve. You're just like my grandpa. Sweet, a gentleman and an actual good man," she said, turning in his arms so she was facing him. "True to his own morals. A little awkward."

"Okay, hilarious," said Steve, rolling his eyes as he placed his hands on the small of her back, pressing her against him. It reminded him of last night, the way they now dared to simply press against each other, and it excited him, causing a smile to appear on Maria's face.

"Like I said," she purred, leaning in close to his lips. "Awkward…"

* * *

 **I'm so sorry for not updating any time sooner! Someone close to me passed away and I needed some time to sort things out again and then school got in the way too so... yeah, sorry. But summer break has started for me now so hopefully I'll be able to write a little more frequently now! :) Again, so sorry for the long wait.**


	11. Chapter 10, Marry Me

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 10~  
Marry Me  
**

"No, I want the pool table to be over there," said Tony's voice as Maria walked down the stairs into the living room.

She furrowed her brow, wondering what Tony was doing up so early and why he needed a pool table. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she noticed Tony standing in the middle of the now, close to, empty living room. Most of the furniture had been moved away or had been stacked close to each other in heaps. Tony himself was standing on the other side of the room, a PAD in his hands while Thor and Clint were both moving a large package to wherever Tony had pointed. Clint himself looked annoyed, his face red from the struggle of lifting the heavy package while Thor smiled happily, barely struggling at all. As he saw Maria, Thor let go of the package, bowing slightly to her which made her smile. However, she frowned slightly as Clint grunted and fell to the floor, all the weight from the package having been put on him by Thor's gesture.

"Morning, guys," said Maria, earning the attention from Tony too as Thor apologetically looked down at Clint, the archer glaring at the Asgardian.

"Ah, morning Dalton," said Tony before looking back over at the large package. "Barton, you can take a break _after_ you've moved my pool table."

With a deadly glare sent towards Tony and a scoff at the helping hand Thor had offered him, Clint stood up and brushed off his clothes before stalking away.

"Hey, where are you going?" asked Tony innocently, Maria smirking at the scene before her.

"Training!" yelled Clint as the elevator doors closed behind him.

"Why are none of the Avengers morning people?" asked Tony, completely oblivious to the actual reason behind Clint's anger. "Thor?"

"I can move your table of pool on my own," said Thor, continuing the work with ease even without Clint's help. "For I am mighty…"

Thor muttered the last part to himself, though Maria and Tony both heard it and looked at each other with amused eyes.

"Have you seen Steve?" asked Maria.

"Yeah, he's in the kitchen," said Tony quickly before grabbing Maria's arm and dragging her over to the middle of the living room. "What do you think; couches in the middle for hanging out, dance floor to the right, bar to the left and other activities in the back."

"Planning the party already?" asked Maria with an amused smile. "It's tomorrow, you know, and I thought you and Banner were busy running tests on the spire?"

"We are. But Jarvis is running some of them now and I had nothing else to do. Besides, a good host has everything ready a day before since a good host knows that things always go wrong," replied Tony. "So, what do you think?"

"Well, I like the idea that there is a part where you can socialize and sort of, take a break," said Maria. "But I'm guessing there's going to be _a lot_ of people. So, maybe you shouldn't just have _one_ place where people can sit. But several little islands?"

Tony snapped his fingers, his eyes lightening up with excitement before he suddenly kissed Maria's cheek; "Love it! I'm taking your idea."

"Okay," said Maria with a big smile, watching Tony walk away from her and towards Thor again.

"Thor! We're going to have to move the pool table again!"

Maria shook her head amused, walking towards the kitchen instead as her stomach began to growl at her for not feeding it. She had awoken that morning alone, Steve already gone. It wasn't something strange, considering that she had slept until eleven o'clock and Steve never slept for that long. Though she had missed the nice and cute morning they had the day before when they awoke together. It had felt perfect and she had wished for that again.

"Morning," said Maria as she entered the kitchen, seeing Natasha, Bruce and Steve seated around the kitchen table.

"Morning," said Bruce and Steve.

"You call this morning?" asked Natasha, pointing towards her wrist where an imaginary clock was supposed to be.

"Oh, as if you haven't just woken up," said Maria, seeing the freshly made sandwich placed before her, indicating she hadn't been seated there for as long as Bruce and Steve who'd already finished their breakfasts.

"Touché," replied Natasha with a smirk.

Maria stopped by Steve who smiled widely as she wrapped her arms around his torso from behind, leaning forwards slightly and resting her chin on his shoulder. Although he tensed slightly, Maria knowing Steve didn't fully feel comfortable showing affection in public, Maria still stayed like that for a while.

"Didn't want to wake you this morning," replied Steve quietly, placing a hand on one of hers.

"It's fine," said Maria back in the same quiet voice, both Natasha and Bruce avoiding to look over at them, small smirks appearing on their lips. "But I missed you."

Steve chuckled quietly, smiling even wider as Maria pressed a soft kiss to his shoulder before standing back up, one hand brushing through his hair as she walked towards the fridge.

"I was thinking of joining Clint downstairs in training," said Maria, taking out the milk and pouring some of it into a small bowl.

"Clint's training?" asked Natasha. "I thought he was helping Tony with the preparations for the party tomorrow?"

"Yeah, he was," chuckled Maria. "Anyway, anyone care to join?"

"I have some things I need to take care of," said Steve. "But I'll come down later."

"I don't really train," said Bruce awkwardly. "Besides, I have some packages I need to get from the post office. The new Erlenmeyer flasks I ordered have arrived. Tony broke the ones we had."

"All of them?" asked Steve with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah…" said Bruce quietly.

"I'll come with you," said Natasha, earning a glance from Maria who sat down next to Steve with her bowl of cereal and fruit.

"Oh, o-okay," replied Bruce, Natasha simply continuing to eat her sandwich, not paying attention to the awkward look Bruce gave her and the smirks Steve and Maria gave.

* * *

With a booming laughter echoing through the hallways, Thor stood up on his feet, smiling widely at Maria who bent over slightly to catch her breath.

"Why, you beat me again, my lady," said Thor, earning a glare from Maria.

As Thor approached her, she quickly placed her hands on his chest and pushed him as hard as she could, earning little to no reaction from Thor; proving to Maria what she had been suspecting.

"You're holding back on me! Letting mew in," exclaimed Maria, Steve and Clint both glancing back at her after her outburst before continuing with their individual training. "That's not fair."

"Why, if I do not, we could go on all day," said Thor innocently, shrugging his shoulders slightly.

"What do you mean?" asked Maria, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You are a strong lady, Maria, and you obviously can handle my attacks well if I do not hold back," he said. "We would be equally as strong and as the sun goes down, neither of us would have won yet."

Maria rolled her eyes slightly, smiling slightly at his comment even though she didn't believe it. "Oh no, you're going to have to do a lot better than that to apologize for holding back on me like I'm some weak girl."

Thor smiled; "Say, if I extend my visit one extra day and spend it with you, training you in all the Asgardian combat I know you can take, would you forgive me then?"

With excited eyes, Maria squeeled in delight; "I'd love that!"

"Well… I must go. I need to make a call to ask if Jane Foster will be joining our revel."

Maria smiled as Thor walked away from her. She had never met his girlfriend and it would be interesting to see what kind of women an Asgardian would be interested in. Seeing as he was a god and could probably find more godlike women on Asgard than on Earth. Well, at least he was alien. The god part was still something Maria had some troubles with.

She looked over at Steve who she only now noticed had stopped training and was intensely talking to Clint who had joined him in standing by the punching bags. For a while, Maria simply watched them talk, noticing the small look of despair on Steve's face. When Clint noticed Maria watching them, she started walking towards them, not wanting to seem creepy. It was then that Clint nodded his head at Steve, giving him a pat on the shoulder before walking off, grabbing his bow and arrow and leaving the training room too. She wondered what that was all about as she reached Steve who was preparing to leave as well.

"Oh, nothing," said Steve, shrugging simply as he unwrapped his hands from the protecting cloth he used while training. "I gave him some advice on – uh – a training schedule, that's all."

Unimpressed with his lie, Maria crossed her arms over her chest, which Steve noticed, making him sigh slightly. "You're giving the SHIELD trained agent advice on a _training_ schedule. Yes, of course you are."

Steve glanced at her again and upon seeing the slightly distressed look on his face, Maria decided to drop it; "It's alright. You don't have to tell me."

"No," said Steve quickly as Maria looked away from him. "It's nothing, really. We were just talking about some things… Mostly, though, about how beautiful of a night it's going to be tonight."

Maria raised an eyebrow, watching him as he walked over to her, placing his now free from cloth hands on her upper arms.

"You were talking about the weather?" asked Maria amused.

"Uhuh. And I was thinking that maybe we could go on a little date tonight seeing as the weather will be so good," said Steve, his cheeks going red though he kept up the confident façade.

"Smooth," giggled Maria, moving her arms so they were wrapped around his neck.

"See, I'm not just awkward."

* * *

Much to Maria's dismay, the place Steve took her to was a beach. It was only a ten-minute car drive away from the Avenger's Tower and seeing as it was an ordinary weekday _and_ it was rather late at night, the beach was basically empty of people.

There was nothing wrong with beaches in Maria's world. The feeling of warm sand between her toes along with the nice, warm sun on her skin was something she enjoyed dearly. However, there were two things the sand and the sun had in common; they were dry. Albeit Maria enjoyed long, warm baths or showers, the ocean was something Maria feared greatly. Not knowing what was out there scared Maria and the thought of having to swim in it caused her great distress. As long as she didn't have to go near the water, she would be fine though.

Steve grabbed her hand and walked her straight towards the water. She didn't have time to react, luckily, before Steve placed a blanket on the sand right before the ocean. If Maria stayed calm and focused on anything but the nearby ocean, she would be fine and not ruin the romantic evening Steve had planned.

He sat down, patting the spot next to him as he looked up at her, clearly not noticing the plain distress on her face. Why, you ask? Well, he was feeling the exact same distress inside. Though his distress wasn't directed to the ocean. His was directed to the velvet box in his pocket.

Clint had come over to him during the training session and told him that he still didn't see a ring on Maria's finger. Reluctantly, Steve had been forced to tell the archer about the flopped proposal the night before to which Clint had pouted and replied; "You gotta try again. Look, there's a beach not far away from here. Not a lot of people go there during the weekdays and seeing as the weather forecast says that it'll be a beautiful evening, you gotta take a shot at it tonight. It'll be perfect, romantic scenery with the dark ocean making calming noises in the background, the still present full moon shining down on you two lovebirds and only you there to hug her when the night gets a little chilly."

He hadn't been wrong. All the things were there; The romantic scenery, the full moon shining down over the ocean and making the ocean shimmer at them, and Maria had already started to show signs of being cold. Not that it was something Steve wanted Maria to be, but he knew Maria adored wearing his clothing and seeing as he was the only one who brought a jacket, that was going to happen soon.

He let out a breath, looking over at the ocean as he leaned back on the blanket, propping his body up on his elbows while Maria stayed seated upright, her legs curled underneath of her.

"You look, uh, beautiful tonight," stuttered Steve, making Maria look over at him, a smile spreading over her face.

"Thank you," said Maria before she let out a sigh, looking back over at the ocean.

With a frown on his face, he asked; "Something wrong?" to which she only shook her head.

"Thor and I trained a lot today," lied Maria easily, seeing as it wasn't a complete lie. "I'm just tired, that's all."

"We don't have to stay long-"

"No, I – I like it here," said Maria, nodding her head as to try and convince herself. "Besides, it's finally just the two of us. No Tony, no Thor; just us."

The velvet black box in Steve's pocket started to burn again, the nervous state it sent him into causing the tips of Steve's ears to turn pink. Flustered, Steve shifted to sit closer to Maria who automatically leaned into Steve's side as he placed his arm around her. The feeling was amazing, having such a close bond with someone he loved that it was something natural to be physically close to that person. He never truly did experience that before he became a Super Soldier. He remembered Bucky having quite a lot of girlfriends, meaning he at least got to experience it. However, none of them looked at Bucky the way Maria looked at Steve. There was a different sort of admiration in Maria's eyes directed towards him than Bucky's girls had had towards Steve's friend. Their love hadn't originated from a mutual physical attraction either, not entirely anyway. Their love had come from helping each other through tough times, even though Maria had done most of the job there seeing as Maria was hard to crack at times.

He placed his free hand on Maria's arm, feeling the soft skin underneath of his fingers and smiling as she shivered slightly under his touch.

"Should've brought a jacket," mumbled Maria, letting out a sigh, leaning her head against Steve's shoulder.

"Here," said Steve quietly, moving ever so gently while he removed his leather jacket and wrapped it around Maria before the pair returned to their former position.

Maria suddenly chuckled, making Steve look down at her; "What?" he asked amused.

"I just remembered our first date," said Maria.

"And it made you laugh?"

"Well, it was rather funny. I mean, we never really did say it was a date but by the end of it, we were holding hands and already speaking of our next date like we'd never been just friends," she said. "I still remember how you blushed whenever I would come close to you."

"You are a beautiful woman," said Steve, earning a blush this time from Maria. "Any man with common sense would get nervous being around you."

"Then you're the only man out there who has common sense," chuckled Maria.

"Maybe," replied Steve. "Or they just don't understand what beauty is. After all, it's not just looks. It's the way you are too. What makes you the most beautiful and astonishing woman on Earth isn't just your soft hair or kissable lips. ("Hello, Shakespeare," Maria jokingly said before Steve continued.) It's also your personality. The quirky little things you sometimes do or the wise things you say. The way your eyes light up whenever they see someone you love or feel comfortable around, even if your sad or scared. Everything combined, all of you, is what makes you beautiful."

"Oh, Steve," replied Maria, straightening up slightly before she shifted so that she was facing him. "What did I do to get you?"

"You listened," said Steve, grabbing her hands before placing them against his heart. "The first person in this new, scary world, who listened to me, cared for me and helped me. That's what you did. Now, the actual question should be, what did I do to get you?"

"Everything, Steve," said Maria, leaning forwards, propping herself up on her knees and leaning her forehead against his. "You did everything. You showed to me what someone close to you is supposed to give you. You showed to me that love can be a wonderful thing if shared with the right person. You _showed_ me love. Actual, pure, love. That's what you did to get me."

"No," replied Steve quietly, placing his hands on Maria's upper arms, breathing in her perfume once before smiling. "Well, maybe I did. But I can tell you, that compared to everything you've done for me. It hasn't been enough. So, I want to give you more. More than I can currently give you."

"How?" asked Maria, furrowing her brow slightly as Steve moved away slightly from her.

"By devoting every single minute of my day to you," said Steve. "By becoming your second half."

"Steve-"

The black velvet box was taken out from Steve's pocket, resting neatly in his trembling hands. It looked so delicate, so scary and so peaceful as it lay there, waiting to be opened; waiting to become the start of a new, giant leap in their relationship.

"Oh my God…" said Maria, placing her hands over her mouth as she stared at the little box.

"I would be the luckiest man in the world if you would become my second half. My wife," said Steve, opening the velvet box and smiling nervously at the tears that appeared in Maria's eyes. "So that I can make you the happiest person in the world, just like you've made me. Maria, will you marry me?"

.

.

.

"Yes!"

* * *

 **Jeez... had to re-write this like a thousand times seeing as Steve kept being out of character. I think he still is... But at least not as bad as at first :P**

 **Yay! They're engaged! How do you think their wedding is going to go? What will it be like? Let me know! I have a good idea for it which I think will be quite amazing and a little different from every other fanfic out there (hopefully). Won't happen for a while though, but it WILL happen!**


	12. Chapter 11, Congratulations

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 11~  
Congratulations and Tony's Party**

 _"Yes!"_

* * *

Maria smiled widely as she sat in the car, her and her _fiancé_ on their way back to the Avenger's Tower. Her eyes were fixed on the silver ring wrapped around her finger, her heart still doing somersaults at the mere thought of what had happened. She was engaged. Something she never thought would happen in her entire life. Not after all the bad luck she'd had when it came to love - her mother - Artur.

Of course there were questions running through her mind; doubts. Though she ignored them, the happiness of this was too good for her to want to ruin it with annoying thoughts of doubt that would bring her mood down. She was with Steve now, bound to him and it felt amazing. And although there were uncertainties, there was one thing Maria knew for certain, she liked the ocean again. Not enough to feel free to swim in it, but at least try to dip her feet in it if she ever got the chance.

The ring itself resembled (apart from Steve and Maria's unbreakable love for each other) a leaf tied around her finger, wrapping itself together at the top to hold a little white diamond in place. Of course, said leaves were pure silver, small cuttings in the metal making it indeed look like leaves.

Steve's hand was suddenly placed on Maria's hands, his fingers feeling the ring around her finger and a smile appeared on his lips while his eyes stayed on the road.

"You have no idea how nervous I was-"

"Oh my God," said Maria quietly, causing Steve to glance at her quickly. "This is what you wanted to ask me yesterday, wasn't it?"

Her question was confirmed by an evident blush that appeared on Steve's cheeks, a smile growing on Maria's lips; "How long have you been carrying this around?"

"A-A while," replied Steve. "I was trying to find the perfect moment to ask you."

"Steve, any moment spent with you is perfect," said Maria, lifting his hand to her lips and kissing it.

Steve chuckled, keeping his eyes on the road while he gently stroked Maria's cheek once before retrieving his hand and focusing on driving.

"You know… I'm really happy this happened," said Maria, her smile suddenly fading slightly. "Mostly because this is with you and I'm finally finding something in my life that is permanent and good."

"You'd already found something permanent and good. The Avengers," added Steve. "We won't break up. We're like a family every one of us."

"We are," she said, a faint hint of a smile appearing on her lips again as she thought about it. "But I can't deny the fact that I'm mostly happy this happened because I won't have to live much longer with my father's name."

A silence followed after she had said this which didn't really surprise her all that much seeing as this probably shocked Steve a little. Though she had been wrong.

"I understand," he said, earning a look from Maria. "After what he has done, doing human tests on people, trying to _clone_ you into being the 'perfect daughter', I completely understand. Not to mention that he's now managed to help create enhanced that are probably not all too friendly towards us."

"And he left me with _mum_ ," said Maria, venom dripping from her words as she mentioned her mother.

"Yes… yes, he did," replied Steve sadly. "You don't talk about her a lot."

"Believe me, Steve, that when I say that you know enough just knowing she was a bad mother, you know enough. You don't want to know half the things she's put me through as a _child_ ," said Maria angrily before taking a deep breath, calming herself down. "Sorry… It just angers me a bit nowadays. It used to hurt, but I think I'm over the pain now."

"I know you don't want to… But, whatever it is she did, you _can_ tell me," said Steve. "Especially now."

"Thank you," said Maria quietly. "For understanding."

"Honestly, I'm just glad you're liking the name Rogers," said Steve, smiling over at her.

"Maria Rogers…" said Maria, trying it out and earning a wide, almost proud, smile from Steve. "Yeah, I like it."

* * *

The next day came fast. After all the excitement from the proposal, both Steve and Maria went straight to bed, not even announcing the proposal to the others seeing as it was too late to wake them up and they were both exhausted. Maria had fallen asleep in Steve's arms and this time, she awoke when Steve was trying to climb out of bed.

"Sorry," he said, lying back down, Maria immediately shifting back into his warm embrace, earning a chuckle from Steve which vibrated through his chest against Maria's cheek. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"What time is it?" asked Maria groggily.

"Half past nine," replied Steve. "I stayed in bed for a couple of hours, not wanting to leave my soon-to-be wife."

Maria smiled widely at his words, opening her eyes and looking up at him, placing a hand against his cheek. "Well, soon-to-be husband, I don't want you to leave me just yet. It's going to be a long day, what with the party and all."

"True," he replied, embracing Maria a little closer at the thought. "I think Sam will come."

"That's nice," replied Maria. "I haven't seen him in a while… Do you – Do you think he's found any leads on Bucky?"

A sigh escaped Steve's lips, a worried look flashed over his face at the mention of his friend's name, "I don't know. I did ask him to try and find something out. But if Bucky's left the states…"

"It'll be hard to find him," finished Maria. "At least for someone who isn't officially a part of the Avengers and who can't use the technology we have."

"Exactly," said Steve. "Besides, I think I'm going to put it to rest for a while. Like you said, if he wants to be found, he will be found. And, I have more important things to take care of at the moment."

"Wow," said Maria sarcastically, knowing full and well what he was talking about once she saw the cheeky smile on Steve's lips. "More important than your bae?"

"My what?" asked Steve, raising an eyebrow in utter confusion.

"Your bae," replied Maria between giggles. "Before – anyone – else."

"Oh…" replied Steve a little uncertain before he smirked. "Not before you."

Earning a giggle from Maria, Steve leaned down and kissed the spot he knew she was ticklish at on her neck, making her roll away from him.

"My weakness!" she exclaimed, earning laughter from Steve.

* * *

Loud congratulations were exchanged to the pair the moment they entered the kitchen. Both Steve and Maria blushed a deep, red color, listening to all the congrats and the multiple questions that were thrown at them.

"How did he ask you?"

"Congratulations!"

"I knew he'd do it tonight!"

"Great job, Rogers."

"Congratulations!"

"What does this ring do? Will it keep all other men away?"

"Congratulations!"

After answering all questions that were thrown at them and thanking every single Avenger, who all had been waiting for them in the kitchen after Jarvis had told them all that morning the news he had found out, Steve and Maria found themselves around the kitchen table with all the Avengers watching them eat breakfast.

Maria was having a little difficulty doing so, as Natasha was sitting next to her, holding her hand in hers and examining the ring in all angles one could possible come up with. There was a smile on her face as she did this, though, so Maria figured the assassin was simply happy for her.

"Told you the beach would work," said Clint, winking at Steve.

"You're kidding me, right?" asked Maria, turning her head to look at Steve. "You told me the two of you had been talking about the weather!"

"The weather?" laughed Clint. "Not so good under pressure, right?"

"It was only half a lie," replied Steve with a shrug.

"Is no one going to address the fact that the man with no girlfriend is the one who helped Spangles with the proposal?" said Tony.

"He watches a lot of romantic movies," said Steve before Clint could defend himself, a pink color appearing on Clint's cheeks and ears.

"Now, hold on-"

"I'm never letting that one go," said Tony, laughing loudly from where he was seated, a PAD in his hands and his feet propped up on the table.

"Tony helped me find the ring," replied Steve, earning a gasp from Maria.

"Really?" she asked. "Why wasn't I there! Let me guess, people thought you two were shopping for rings for each other, right?"

"Actually-" replied Steve with a smirk on his face as the same, pink color appeared on Tony's cheeks, Clint being the one to laugh this time.

"There's no point in going there now, Rogers," said Tony hastily, burying his nose in his PAD again before anyone could say anything else on the matter.

"It's a beautiful ring," said Natasha, finally letting go of Maria's hand. "I would take care of it, a lot of people will want the money it's worth."

"I'm never going to take it off," said Maria, ignoring the money part as it didn't matter to her what it had cost and neither did she want to know.

"We should be going now, Tony. The – uh – _tests_ aren't going to make themselves and we can't waste our last couple of hours in the kitchen," said Bruce, standing up from his seat, Tony mirroring his actions.

"True. The _tests_ are going to need our… surveillance," said Tony before the two of them hurried off.

There was an eerie silence after they had left in which everyone simply looked at the door through which the two scientists had left.

"Sometimes… I get the feeling they're hiding something from us," said Clint, earning a hum of agreeance from Maria.

"But our new policy goes against that, right?" asked Maria.

"Yeah… But this is Tony we're talking about," said Natasha.

"I'm sure it's nothing," said Steve finally, the Avengers turning away from the door again.

* * *

The speaker's base could be heard through the walls of all the upper floors of the Avenger's Tower. The party had most certainly already started. Maria was just putting the finishing touch to her lipstick when the bathroom door was opened, Steve walking inside, buttoning up his shirt. His confident steps faltered slightly as his gaze landed on Maria, causing her to smile slightly.

"I know, I don't usually wear lipstick," said Maria, glancing back at her reflection to see if she looked presentable or not. "Figured it was the occasion for it."

Her lips were colored a dark, prune color, resembling much her suit's faint color which one could see only in the sunlight (since it otherwise looked black), though the lipstick was a shade or two lighter. Her dress was the same, prune-purple color, reaching just below her knees while she wore a pair of high heels she got to borrow from Natasha, the assassin having enough high heels to spare one pair for Maria. Her hair was curled into wavy curls reaching just below her shoulders, one side of her hair pinned up to keep it away from her face.

"You… look amazing," breathed Steve, placing a hand around her waist and gently kissing her cheek. "You're going to blow everyone away with your beauty tonight."

"Stop it," said Maria, waving his words off before turning to Steve, buttoning up the remaining buttons of his shirt before running a hand through his newly brushed hair, enjoying it better when it was a little ruffled. "You look handsome too… Not that you always do."

Steve smirked before gesturing to the door. "We should go. The party's already started and Tony will be offended if we're not there in time."

And with that said, the two of them left, hand in hand. Steve's finger kept brushing over the engagement ring on Maria's finger as they walked, making her smile widely as she was remembered of the fact that she was soon going to be called Rogers instead of Dalton.

Indeed, a lot of people had already arrived at the party. As Tony had explained to Maria the day before, the room was, to the left, a large dancefloor where people already were dancing, drinks in their hands. To the right, the bar still existed and here and there around the room, there were little islands of sofas and couches where people could sit and mingle, just like Maria had suggested to Tony.

"This is going to be a long night," said Steve from next to her as they made their way down the stairs.

"Yup," she replied simply before they entered the crowd.

Compared to other house-parties Tony had hosted, this wasn't as crazy or crowded as those. There was room to walk freely without elbowing other people and the music wasn't as loud as Maria had feared it would be. Then again, the people that had accepted their invitations weren't party people. They were doctors, scientists or other heroes of New York. Maria even saw a group of elderly sitting by the bar which most certainly weren't the usual party guests of Tony. Though, this wasn't the usual Tony either.

Although it wasn't something Maria had thought about earlier, it showed up in the way the party had been organized. Their very first mission together had truly affected Tony a great deal. He had matured (albeit Pepper had a lot to do with that too) and seemed less impulsive than he used to be. He had told Maria about what had happened to him during the time she had been away from him; about the Mandarin and about how Tony had decided to start and try to live life more as Tony Stark and less as Iron Man. Meaning, at some point, he'd never wear the suit again.

As Maria danced with Natasha, a drink in both of their hands, she thought swiftly about that idea of Tony's; to never wear the suit again. Seeing as Maria had only recently started to wear a suit officially, being a hero on full-time instead of just during the night alongside of Matt, she hadn't ever thought about it. The life-style hadn't worn her out yet even after the things she had been through. And seeing as children wasn't going to be something that would come in the way of Steve and Maria; would they ever find a reason to stop? Steve aged slowly, thanks to the serum. And Maria - well she didn't know yet. Her powers could make her age slower too, which would be very convenient since she would otherwise look much older than Steve after a while.

"Hey! Earth to Maria!" said Natasha over the music.

"Oh, sorry," mumbled Maria, taking another sip from her drink. "I was deep in thoughts."

"I noticed," said Natasha, raising an eyebrow. "You stopped dancing."

"Sorry," said Maria again, furrowing her brow. "Look, do you mind if we take a break?"

"Not at all," said Natasha, following her away from the dance-floor. "Where's Steve?"

"He met up with Sam," said Maria as they reached the bar, the two women leaning against the counter, ordering themselves another pair of drinks. "They needed to talk."

"About Bucky?" asked Natasha, earning a look from Maria. She hadn't been there when Steve had told Sam and Maria he wanted to find the Winter Soldier. "I notice things."

"Well, I don't know," replied Maria. "Probably."

"Sorry," mumbled a voice from beside Maria as a woman pushed up against the counter, quickly ordering a pair of drinks for her and a friend.

"No worries," replied Maria hastily before turning back to Natasha.

"You are Maria Dalton?" asked the woman, causing Maria to turn back to her.

"Yeah… Who are you?"

"I'm doctor Helen Cho," said the woman, turning fully to Maria and ignoring the drinks which the bartender placed in front of her. "I was the one who healed your friend, agent Barton."

"Ah," replied Maria, shaking the outstretched hand of the doctor. "Nice to meet you. Sorry I didn't come to say hello earlier, I was busy with… other stuff like -"

"Getting engaged, I heard," said doctor Cho, smirking as she briefly glanced down at the ring on Maria's hand.

"Uh, yes," smiled Maria.

"If you wouldn't mind," started doctor Cho. "I would be very interested in taking a few tests of your abilities. After all, you have a healing ability which I, in a way, am trying to remake with the help of machines."

"Oh…" said Maria, an uncomfortable feeling entering the pit of her stomach. "I – uh – wouldn't mind. Thor and I are going to train tomorrow… Maybe tomorrow evening? If you're still here then?"

"Of course," said doctor Cho. "I will meet you then."

With that said, the doctor grabbed the two drinks and left Natasha and Maria alone by the bar again.

"Her work is quite amazing. You can't tell the synthetic skin from the real," said Natasha.

"Yeah… I'm sure… You know, for once, I would prefer people to know me for my good deeds, not my criminal past or my healing ability," muttered Maria before sighing. "But I suppose these tests can help save people's lives…"

Natasha hummed a yes before nodding over towards the back of the room, making Maria turn her head. "I spot Steve and Sam."

Indeed, Natasha had found them. The two men were casually playing pool, smiling and laughing.

"Go," said Natasha. "I'll manage. Besides, I gotta find Bruce."

Maria smirked, earning a smirk back from Natasha, knowing she had been indicating on the fact that Natasha had been _very_ interested in Bruce lately, not being shy about it either. As Maria walked towards the pool table, she couldn't help but find it a little cute that Bruce had gained Natasha's attention.

"Hey," said Sam, being the first to see her as she reached them, leaning against the back of a chair that had been placed near the pool table, smiling at the two men. "I never congratulated you, M."

"Did you just call me _M_?" asked Maria.

"Yup," replied Sam before giving her a hug. "Congrats."

"Thanks," chuckled Maria. "So, who's winning?"

"Actually, me," beamed Sam. "He said you can't beat a man in pool if he's from the 1940's. Well, I'm proving him wrong. _And_ , I'm getting ten dollars richer in doing so."

"Well, you haven't won yet," said Steve.

"No, but I'm not going to lose either," replied Sam, pointing a finger at Steve before focusing entirely on the pool table, trying to find the best angle to go at next.

Steve walked over to Maria as Sam focused, placing an arm around her and pressing a soft kiss to her temple. She leaned in against him, smiling softly.

"You're letting him win, right?" asked Maria quietly.

"Yeah, I am."


	13. Chapter 12, Worthy of Mjölnir?

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 12~  
Worthy of Mjölnir?**

"Sounds like a hell of a fight," said Sam, the two of them standing on the catwalk overlooking the party, both of their gazes unavoidably watching Maria as she talked to the guests, staying mostly with those she knew; the Avengers. "Sorry I missed it."

"If I had known it was gonna be a firefight, I absolutely would have called," replied Steve, smiling softly as Maria laughed at something Thor had said.

"No, no. I'm not actually sorry," said Sam, earning an amused look from Steve. "I'm just trying to sound tough. I'm very happy chasing cold leads on our missing persons case. Avenging is your world."

The two of them looked over at the crowd again before Sam scoffed; "Your world is crazy."

"Be it ever so humble," replied Steve.

"You find a place in Brooklyn yet?" asked Sam, earning a sigh from Steve.

"I don't think I can afford a place in Brooklyn," said Steve. "Everything's so expensive now. It was Tony who helped me with the ring. I wouldn't have been able to afford something as beautiful otherwise. He said he owed me anyhow. For what, I don't know."

"Well… Home is home, you know?"

"Yes, I do," said Steve, his gaze looking back down at Maria which earned a chuckle from Sam.

"I suppose you've found your home," he said as he watched Maria look up at the two of them after Tony had whispered something in her ear. "With her."

Steve smirked, glancing over at Sam once before answering; "My life may be messed up. But at least I'm happy."

* * *

"People are leaving," whispered Tony over to Maria, his breath reeking of alcohol though he didn't seem the least bit affected by it. "Let's call everyone around the table for a last bit of socializing."

Maria looked up at the catwalk where she knew Sam and Steve had been standing for a while now, talking. She had wanted to join them, seeing as they were her favorite people at the party, though she was afraid to interrupt something important as Sam was still working on finding Bucky and the two might want to talk about it in private.

As the two of them looked down at her, she waved her hands, showing to them that she wanted them to get down. And as the two of them finally found their way back to her, the crowd of people had dispersed immensely, leaving only a few people left. All of them went to sit down in the middle of the room where sofas had been placed along with a small coffee table. Everyone put their drinks down on it and sat down around the small table. Clint and Natasha placed themselves close to each other as did Steve, Maria and Sam (Maria in-between the two men). Tony and Rhodes both sat down close to each other too while both Bruce and Thor sat on lonely chairs. Hill and doctor Cho placed themselves on a sofa together facing Maria, Steve and Sam.

Before Thor sat down, he put his hammer on the coffee table along with the drink he had been drinking.

For a while, the lot just talked, laughing at each other's jokes and listening to each's adventures. Maria simply listened, intrigued by the adventures all the Avengers had been on and how normal of a life most of the people had. Compared to hers, everyone around the coffee table, who wanted to share something about their past, had had normal lives (before they turned into superheroes). No abuse, no death, just happiness. Of course, Tony's parents had died though Tony hadn't been so young and seemed to have recovered quite well. However, Maria knew exactly how well one could hide those scars and decided not to think he was completely alright.

Even Thor's life seemed pretty normal compared to Maria's, though the crown Prince thing and the entire fight with Loki over said crown was rather different to any of their lives. When Thor talked about his first time on Earth and Jane, Maria couldn't help but smile widely at the look on his face and the soft way he talked about her.

She silently wished she could've had a normal childhood too.

Maria got asked a few questions as well, mostly from those who she wasn't all that close to and who didn't know that her past was rather a touchy subject. Obviously everyone had read about the part in her past where she murdered people for, not intentionally, Hydra. So, the questions were about her life before that. Luckily, whenever Sam and Steve felt her writhe slightly in her seat, they backed her up.

"Wait, why did you get to live with your grandparents? Where was your mother?"

"Personal reasons." "Her mother wasn't present."

She appreciated it and each time they did back her up, making sure she didn't have to answer those touchy questions, she grabbed each of their hands without either of the others noticing, to silently thank them.

The mood was joyful and light when Clint, who had somehow ended up on the floor in front of where Natasha was now lying on the sofa, cast a glance over at the hammer.

"So," said Clint as the laughter from the previous joke had died down. "What is this indestructible hammer made of?"

Everyone glanced at the thing Clint gestured towards before all eyes were diverted to Thor.

"Uru. A metal found only in Nidavellir," explained Thor proudly. "The leather on the handle is just as indestructible as the hammer itself."

"Uru of Nivea – what?" asked Tony, blinking several times.

"Nidavellir, one of the nine realms," he said.

"Nine realms…" muttered Sam from next to Maria. "I'd rather just stay on Earth and pretend like aliens don't exist."

"But, why can't anyone else lift it?" asked Rhodes.

"Well," he said, fumbling slightly with the collar of his jacket, which Tony probably had bought for him just for this very party seeing as his normal clothes weren't very normal on Earth (capes not being a part of the dress-code). "It is enchanted. Only those it deems worthy may wield the power of Mjölnir."

"But it's a trick," said Clint, seeming to be trying to get the truth out of Thor, not believing in magic at all.

"No, no, it's much more than that," said Thor.

"'Whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power' – eh, whatever, man! It's a trick!" exclaimed Clint again.

"Please," said Thor rather amused, gesturing towards Mjölnir. "Be my guest."

"Really?" asked Clint, standing up with a wide smirk on his face.

"Yeah," said Thor, shrugging slightly, his voice still holding the exact same amusement as earlier.

"This is gonna be good," said Rhodes, clasping his hands together with a smirk playing on his lips.

"Clint, you've had a tough week," said Tony, leaning forwards slightly. "We won't hold it against you if you can't get it up."

"You know I've seen this before," said Clint, pointing towards the hammer which was now in front of him, the handle turned up towards him so he easily could try to lift it.

With a cocky movement, he placed his hand on the handle, groaning slightly as he tried his best to lift the hammer. Maria chuckled at the slightly surprised look on his face which he tried to hide with a chuckle of his own.

"I still don't know how you do it!" he exclaimed, shaking his head before walking back over to where he had been sitting earlier.

"Smell the silent judgement," said Tony, causing Clint to turn towards him.

"Please!" exclaimed the archer, pointing a finger at Tony. "Stark, by all means."

With a look on his face as though he had just accepted a deal that would give him the, Tony stood up, cockily walking over to the hammer.

"Never one to shrink from an honest challenge," said Tony as he made himself ready, placing his hand on the handle, looking over at all the spectators once before focusing his gaze on Thor, seeming to want to see the shock on the Asgardian when he managed to lift the hammer. "It's physics."

"Physics?" asked Maria with a roll of her eyes amongst the others' comments about Tony's nonchalant behavior.

"Aright, so if I lift it," said Tony, still looking at Thor. "I then rule Asgard?"

"Yes, of course," chuckled Thor, the look in his eyes telling Maria that he knew no one could actually lift it but him.

"I will be reinstituting prima nocta," said Tony before pulling on the handle.

Though nothing happened, causing Maria to let out a snort as she tried to keep in her laughter. Tony looked over at her, a defeated look on his face. He let go of the handle, seeming to think for a couple of seconds before turning away from the group. "I'll be right back."

"Oh, he's gone to cheat," said Sam, earning chuckles from some of the group.

"No surprise there," replied Rhodes, though as Tony returned, Rhodes seemed rather offended by what he had brought with him. "Now, that is indeed cheating! How can you be worthy if you use gadgets?"

Tony put on the Iron Man gloves he had brought, glaring over at his friend. "It's not magic. It's physics. I just need some more strength."

Thor chuckled from where he was sitting.

With a grunt, Tony tried again, this time his Iron Man suit helping him slightly. Though the hammer didn't budge.

"Alright, Rhodes, get over here," said Tony, waving his arm about, seeming slightly frustrated.

"Why?"

"Just do it," replied Tony, watching his friend walk over to him. "Okay, I know you've got your gloves."

"What?"

"Don't deny it, I know you sleep with them under your pillow."

Rhodes seemed slightly flustered, though pulled out said War Machine gloves and put them on.

"Now, help me."

Both grunted, lifting and pulling on the hammer for several minutes, though it still didn't budge.

"Are you even pulling?"

"Are you on my team?" asked Tony before they tried one last time.

"Just represent," shot Rhodes back. "Pull!"

"Well, that was a bust."

Maria watched as the two of them walked back to their seats, defeated looks on their faces while Thor just continued to chuckle, grabbing his drink again and taking a sip of it to hide his amusement slightly.

Bruce stood up, earning whistles and surprised looks from the group. As he grabbed the handle he pretended to lift as hard as he could before jumping back and beginning to roar, pretending to be hulking out from the effort.

The group watched in silence as Bruce's pretend roars died out. He looked at them all, a look of shame and awkwardness evident on his face and as he walked back to his seat, Maria offered him a soft smile.

At least he had tried to be funny.

"Steve?" asked Sam, looking over at Steve and seeming to surprise the super soldier slightly.

"What? Oh, no, I'm good," said Steve, shaking his head slightly.

"Oh, come one," urged Maria, grabbing his arm and pouting slightly. "Please?"

Steve sighed, a smile on his face. "Alright."

"Go ahead, Steve, no pressure," said Tony from his seat, sweat still evident on his face from the struggle he had put in it earlier.

Steve rolled his sleeves up before placing both hands on the handle, using all his power to try and lift the hammer. However, it didn't budge. Not even slightly and Thor chuckled again. As Steve sighed and took a step away from the hammer, still an amused smile on his face, Maria stood up and walked over to him.

"Hey! He's cheating!" exclaimed Tony, earning grunts from all the group members to which he looked rather offended. "What?"

Maria placed her hands on the bottom half of the handle while Steve placed his on the top. They looked at each other, their faces inches away from each other before nodding and lifting. At first, nothing happened and the chuckle from Thor was heard again. Though then, suddenly, the hammer's weight lifted, just slightly.

Thor's chuckle died down.

Both Maria and Steve looked at each other, feeling the difference in the hammer and silently agreeing that they didn't want to rule Asgard, letting go of the hammer and pretending nothing had happened.

"Wow… Too bad," said Maria hurriedly, walking back to Sam with Steve behind her.

"Yup, too bad," he responded in the same tone.

Thor looked at them shocked before hiding it with a chuckle, quickly taking a sip from his drink again, eyebrows furrowed.

None of the others seemed to have noticed how, when working together, the two of them were worthy of the hammer.


	14. Chapter 13, There Are No Strings On Me

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 13~  
There Are No Strings On Me  
**

"Widow?"

Steve and Maria quickly looked over at Natasha, trying their best to not show the awkwardness of the situation they had just been in.

"No, no, that's not a question I need answered," replied Natasha, shaking her head before taking a sip from her own drink.

"How?" asked doctor Cho, sending a flirty look towards Thor, which surprised Maria slightly. "How does it work?"

Thor simply shrugged, an amused look on his face.

"All deference to the Man Who Wouldn't Be King, but it's rigged," said Tony, seeming slightly embarrassed to not have succeeded with a task he had taken upon himself. Maria could only think it was healthy for him to gain a little bit of a reality check once in a while.

"You bet your ass," replied Clint.

"Steve, he said a bad word," commented Hill to which Maria chuckled, Sam only looking utterly confused.

"Did you tell everyone about that?" asked Steve, his question directed towards Tony who had obviously found his remark during their mission in Sokovia, the funniest and it was no doubt he who had told everyone.

"Steve made a little bit of an 'old man' remark on our previous mission," whispered Maria to Sam, the confused look on his face going away slightly.

"I suppose it had something to do with swearing?" he asked.

"Now, don't tell him too," complained Steve from the other side of Maria to which both Sam and Maria chuckled.

"Yes, it's a very interesting theory," boomed Thor as he stood up, placing his drink on the table before grabbing his hammer, lifting it with ease. "I have a simpler one; You're all not worthy."

"Come on!" booed Clint.

Interrupting the booing and chuckling of the Avengers and their friends, was a high pitched noise. The noise reminded Maria of one which could be heard if someone had fiddled too much with a microphone they were going to talk in because they were too nervous. The noise seemed to go through Maria's bones and she shivered at the same time as she placed her hands over her ears. Her gaze quickly moved over to Steve who she knew had a better hearing ability than herself and the others. She couldn't even imagine what pain he was going through at the sound although he barely showed it.

Then, the sound stopped. Instead, a spooky voice was heard.

 _"Woooorthyyy…"_

Sam, Maria and Steve both tensed up at the strange, echoing voice that seemed to come from all over the place. To Maria, the voice reminded her of something one would hear during a scene in a horror movie where the demon haunting the house finally finds the strength to speak up, breaking the good atmosphere and making the main characters all huddle up together. Instead of huddling up, however, everyone's eyes instinctually gazed over towards a potential weapon they could use to battle whatever evil may turn up. Maria's gaze went down to her thigh where she had, underneath of her skirts, strapped a dagger to her leg.

She heard footsteps, as did the others, and everyone looked over to where the footsteps were coming from. There, a deformed robot who most certainly came from the Legionnaire robots (automatic robots that Tony created to help with various things) was walking towards them. It looked as though it had started to walk before it had been finished. From it, oil was leaking and it seemed to try to grab at the loose strings that it had hanging from its deformed body. For a little while, Maria felt sorry for it as it looked lost and scared. Though as it turned towards them, there was a cold look on its face that none of the robots Stark had ever made had ever had.

"No… How could you be worthy _._ You're all killers."

"Stark?" asked Steve quietly, indicating that he needed to do something about his bugging robot.

Maria quickly glanced over at her friend and he seemed to be working hard on trying to shut something down using his PAD. Though it wasn't working from the look on his face.

"Jarvis?" asked Tony, putting the PAD away from him.

"I'm sorry, I was asleep. Or I was a – dream," the broken robot spoke.

"Reboot Legionnaire OS. We got a buggy suit," said Tony, still to Jarvis who hadn't even replied which worried Maria slightly.

"I heard this terrible noise… And I was tangled in…. in…. strings," the robot continued to speak, his head turning to look at the leaking threads that were attached to it.

Steve and Maria stood up, Sam staying put. Maria had grasped her dagger and was now holding it out of view from the robot, her body ready to attack or jump out of the way should the thing decide to attack.

"I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy."

"You killed someone?" asked Steve.

"Wouldn't have been my first call. But, down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices," it said, its voice sounding rather smooth.

"Who sent you?" asked Thor.

 _"I see a suit of armor around the world."_ The voice seemed to come from the robot, though Maria recognized it was a playback of something Tony must've said at some point, seeing as it was Tony's voice that came from the buggy robot.

Immediately, Maria amongst several others, looked over at Tony. Bruce did too, though he also spoke up and what he said, worried Maria greatly; "Ultron!"

"In the flesh," replied the robot, reacting to the name Bruce had uttered. "Or no, not yet. Not this chrysalis. But I'm ready. I'm on a mission."

"What mission?" asked Natasha.

"Peace in our time," was all Ultron said before several other robots burst through the wall behind him, immediately attacking the Avengers.

Steve kicked up the coffee table in front of him, Maria and Sam, shielding them from one of the robots that came flying towards them though also sending them flying backwards. As Maria landed on the floor, her sight was gone for a couple of seconds seeing as the back of her head hit the floor first. Once she regained her sight, all three of them sat upright, watching for a couple of seconds as the others fought against the robots.

"Maria!?" called Steve, looking over at her with a worried look.

"I'm fine!" she called, waving him off before he stood up and started fighting too. "Sam?"

"You guys don't have calm days, right?" asked Sam with a grunt as he stood up with a little bit of help from Maria.

"No, not really," she replied sarcastically before a robot came flying towards them, landing in front of them and swinging its arm at Sam.

Maria grabbed the arm before it could hit him and used all her strength to push the robot away from him.

"Go," she called to Sam who was still defenseless without any weapons. "Go!"

Sam tensed and went to hide behind the bar while Maria held onto the robot for as long as she could. Though, obviously, the robot was stronger than her and he managed to wriggle out of her grasp. He hit her, which sent her flying again. Though this time, Maria lost her dagger as she landed and it slid away from her reach. The robot calmly walked over to her while she regained control of her body after the bad hit she took. And as she started to make for her dagger, the robot grabbed her feet and dragged her away from it.

As he let go, Maria was prepared to wrap her legs around its torso and make a cool Widow-move on it. Though instead of letting her do so, the robot bent down and placed its hands around her throat, lifting her up as it choked her. Luckily, before the robot could make her truly start to choke, Thor smashed his hammer into the back of the robot, making it crumble into pieces while Maria once again, fell to the floor. He offered his hand to Maria which she took gratefully before fighting alongside of the Asgardian.

Her eyes landed on one robot who flew towards the gaping hole in the wall, holding the scepter of Loki.

Though she didn't have time to react to it much as Steve's shield flew past her and hit the last robot left to fight. Now, only Ultron was left and all Avengers and their friends included, turned towards him.

"That was dramatic," he said. "I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to… evolve?" Ultron walked over to the parts of the suit that had been standing the longest before he took up the head of it, crushing it with his hand as he continued to speak. "With these? These puppets… There's only one path to peace. The Avengers' extinction."

Maria gasped at Ultron's words and as if on que with her worry and horror, Thor threw his hammer at Ultron, breaking him apart as well. Though Maria was sure it wasn't the end of Ultron. Something in the way he had been speaking and not running away from them told Maria that this body wasn't the only one he could use.

 _"I had strings… But now I'm free…"_ The Disney melody was sung from the crumbled parts of Ultron as the lights shining through the eyes of the deformed head of Ultron died out.

"Loki's scepter," breathed Maria. "He took it."

Thor looked at her shocked before taking off through the hole in the wall, possibly to trace them to wherever they were going.

"What just happened?" asked Sam as he walked up to Maria, his question directed to everyone.

"I don't know… But I think Stark and Banner know," said Steve, crossing his arms over his chest as he turned towards the two scientists.

Bruce looked over at Tony, seeming to be trying to find help in where to start. However, Tony didn't look at Bruce. His eyes were still on the broken suit which Ultron had been using earlier, a look of horror on his face. As he noticed all eyes were on him, he turned and walked up towards the labs instead, everyone following him.

 _"There are no strings on me."_

* * *

 **Germany, Berlin**

Erik Dalton was sitting at the end of a long, mahogany table, eating a steak with a side of mashed potatoes, peacefully and calmly. A glass of wine was standing before him and a quivering butler was standing behind him, ready to pour more wine into the glass whenever it was needed. The butler's eyes were fixed on Erik's wine for he didn't want to see what was left of the rest of the guests.

Some of Erik's men were standing by the door, cleaning their guns which had only recently been used. They weren't talking to each other, knowing their boss wanted to eat in silence.

It had been a business dinner in which Erik was going to meet up with what was left of Hydra after Strucker's downfall. Word had spread fast that Strucker was now in jail for life which left an opening for the role of the leader of Hydra. The dinner had been held at someone's house, hence why there was butler serving them. Though when Erik had informed the other goons that he was open to take on the role Baron von Strucker had left behind, they had laughed at him. He had continued to persuade them, trying to make them see that he knew what Strucker had been working with better than they did as he had been helping him slightly. Though they still laughed at him.

"You? Last time I heard, you only joined Hydra because your little girl would be safe that way. You ain't loyal," they had said.

In a fit of rage, Erik had given the sign to his men who immediately put bullets through each goons' head. Now, their plates of steak were bloody and messy.

Anyone who tried to remind Erik of his past would always end up the same way. Unfortunately for them, they hadn't known that.

Putting down his cutlery on his now empty plate, Erik used the white napkin that had been given to him at the start of the fancy dinner, to wipe his mouth before also wiping away the splatters of blood from his face.

"Desert, please," he said, the butler seeming quite shocked at his words.

"A-Are you sure, sir? Don't you think it would be nicer if you'd eat in a-a different roo-"

"Desert, please," repeated Erik with a determined and angered look sent towards the butler.

"Of course, sir," the butler said, immediately putting down the bottle of wine and grabbing Erik's plate, taking it and bringing it inside of the kitchen.

Erik had watched the butler intensely and come to the conclusion he was too afraid to stay quiet about what had happened. And so, he looked over at his right hand thug - Harry – before nodding towards the kitchen door and silently ordering him to kill the staff in there.

"Sir!" another thug called as the doors of the kitchen swung close, muffling the noises of murder. "Sir, you've got a… message."

Erik, raised an eyebrow at the thug before waving him over. "What message?"

"An… E-mail, sir," said the thug, showing the phone to Erik who cocked his head to the side.

"Ultron? Is this anyone we know?"

"No, sir. Word has it, he attacked the Avengers at their base."

"Ah, so he's on our side when it comes to the Avengers at least," said Erik, smirking. "I wonder what he wants our help with."

"Shall I send a reply, sir?"

"Yes… Tell him, I'll very much would like to meet him in person."


	15. Chapter 14, Ultron's Recruiting

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 14~  
Ultron's Recruiting**

"All our work is gone," said Bruce as he stepped away from the main computer in the lab. "Ultron cleared out. He used the Internet as an escape hatch."

"Ultron…" repeated Steve to himself in an irritated voice, to which both Sam and Maria looked at him with the equal amount of irritation mixed in with worry.

"He's been in everything. Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other," said Natasha.

"I hope not," said Maria, indicating the fact that they were a team and shouldn't keep secrets from each other to which Natasha only offered her an unreadable look.

"He's in your files, he's in the internet," said Rhodey. "What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?"

"Nuclear codes," said Hill, earning a nod of Rhodey's head.

"Nuclear codes," repeated Rhodey. "Look, we need to make some calls. Assuming we still can."

"Nukes? He said he wanted _us_ dead," said Natasha.

"He didn't say 'dead'. He said 'extinct'," said Steve, his eyes glancing softly at Maria once before looking back at the others with a more determined look. Obviously, he was worried about her safety, though probably not as worried as Maria was for his safety.

"He also said he killed somebody," said Clint.

"There wasn't anyone else in the building," said Hill, shaking her head.

"Yes, there was," said Tony, finally speaking up again as he walked over to the center of the room, his PAD in his hand.

With a flick of his PAD, a holographic picture appeared in front of him, making everyone take a step forwards to get a better look at it. Maria only saw orange lines and dots, not understanding why Tony had sounded so grave and saddened.

"What is it?" asked Maria quietly, wondering if she was the only one confused as hell.

"Jarvis…" breathed Bruce as he went to stand next to Tony, putting his glasses on.

Although she was still confused about how an AI could be killed and seen with her eyes in such a way, she stayed quiet and simply watched the scene before her. Deeming it inappropriate to ask for a clarification when Tony and Bruce both looked rather distraught at the sight of Jarvis' distraught 'body'.

"This is insane," said Bruce, glancing once at Tony before looking back at Jarvis.

"Jarvis was the first line of defense. He would have shut Ultron down. It makes sense," said Steve.

"No, Ultron could've assimilated Jarvis. This isn't strategy. This is… rage," said Bruce.

"But how can Ultron feel rage if he's an AI like Jarvis?" asked Maria.

"He's an AI… But a much more complex AI. Made out of the power from Loki's scepter," explained Bruce.

"You experimented on it?" asked Steve at the same time as Thor appeared again, now fully wearing his armor and cape again.

Tony was about to defend himself, though Thor didn't stop walking. Instead, he walked straight up to Tony and placed a hand around his throat, lifting him up.

"Thor!" exclaimed Maria.

"Come on, use your words, buddy," croaked Tony.

"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark," said Thor, obvious anger directed towards Tony.

"Thor," said Steve quickly. "The Legionnaire."

At Steve's demand for a report, Thor let go of Tony who stumbled backwards, grasping his now sore throat and exchanging a worried look with Maria who afterwards, when she realized he was okay, simply shook his head at him disappointed.

"Trail went cold about 100 miles out, but it's headed north," said Thor. "And it has the scepter. Now we have to retrieve it, _again._ "

"Genie's out of that bottle," said Natasha. "Clear and present is Ultron."

"She's right, if Ultron is the 'AI' that came from the scepter - with a little bit of help from Stark and Banner over here, retrieving the scepter isn't our first priority," said Maria.

"Unless Ultron uses the scepter to make more like him," said Sam to which Maria bit her lip in worry.

"I don't understand," said doctor Cho. "You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?"

Tony's only reply to that, was laughter. Which shocked not only Maria. The others all watched him as he laughed, Bruce trying to quietly tell him that it wasn't the best of times to laugh about the situation at all.

"You think this is funny?" asked Thor, voicing what everyone was thinking.

Tony turned, his laughter having died down; "No. It's probably not, right? This is very terrible. Is it so… Is it so… It is. It's _so_ terrible."

Maria raised an eyebrow at him, showing her obvious disdain towards his reaction to the situation at hand as he looked at her.

"This could have been avoided if you hadn't played-"

"No. I'm sorry, I'm sorry-"

"- with something you don't understand," said Thor, ignoring Tony's attempt to cut him off.

"It is funny," he said, earning a shake of Maria's head. "It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this."

"A murdering AI? Yeah, we don't quite understand why we need it," said Maria sarcastically, earning a worried look from Bruce – who for obvious reasons never had liked conflicts.

"Tony, maybe this might not be the time," started Bruce though was cut off by Tony.

"Really?" he asked Bruce. "That's it? You just roll over, show your belly every time somebody snarls?"

"Only when I've created a murder bot," replied Bruce.

"We didn't," replied Tony. "We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?"

"Well, you did something right," said Steve. "And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than SHIELD."

Tony sighed. "Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?" he asked to which most people sighed and groaned as though they had heard the story a thousand times.

Only Maria, Steve, Thor and Bruce stayed quiet, watching Tony. They knew how much Tony had struggled to get over the fact with aliens and for him to mention it, although it did sound a little bit arrogant, must mean that he had a very good reason to do so.

"No, it's never come up," said Rhodey sarcastically.

"Saved New York?" asked Tony.

"Never heard that," continued Rhodey.

"Recall that? A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing 300 feet below it," said Tony. "We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the livelong day, but… That up there, that's… That's the endgame. How were you guys planning on beating that?"

"Together," replied Steve, earning somewhat of a shocked look from Tony.

"We'll lose," he said.

"Then we do that together too," replied Steve determined. "Thor's right. Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place. Let's start making it smaller."

Maria watched Tony turn his back on the team, his head lowering slightly as though he was struggling with something after what Steve had said. For a couple of seconds, she wanted to go up and ask him what was wrong. Though then it struck her that it must be quite obvious. He had just created a murder bot, as Bruce so kindly called it. And the team was mad at him. At least, she assumed that was what was wrong.

 **Sokovia**

Three years ago, the thug who now was Erik's right hand had been called in by Hydra to work on the laboratory Erik ran. Throughout the years, they had become better and better friends, and now, he was where he was now, always following Erik's orders and never actually disobeying. When he did, he did it because he fought it was going to be one of Erik's bad decisions. Luckily, Erik appreciated this and never got mad with him.

His name was Harry; born and raised in Mississippi. His parents had died in a car crash, leaving all their debts for Harry to pay which had been impossible. His search for a well-paying job had led him to Hydra.

Currently, Harry was out in the city of Sokovia, looking for two people whom his boss' new 'boss' wanted to meet. These two being the Maximoff twins. When he did find them, he was stunned to find the two whom he presumed were on the same side as Erik Dalton and this Ultron guy, giving out clothes and blankets to the people of Sokovia after they had been hit by the attack on the former base of Strucker.

"Maximoff?"

Both twins looked over at Harry as he spoke.

"I have someone who wants to meet you," continued Harry.

"Who?" asked Pietro, clearly suspicious by the approach of the American man.

Harry smirked, knowing exactly what would get them to come with them.

"A man."

"What man?" asked Wanda.

"The iron man…"

* * *

Harry led them over to the church located in the center of Sokovia. Both twins walked side by side behind Harry, clearly still suspicious. They probably knew it wasn't the actual Iron Man. Though it had intrigued them enough to tag along with Harry, especially after Harry had told them it was a once in a life-time bargain they would get if they came with him.

Harry walked over to stand at the side as the twins reached the church. In the middle of the big hall one entered first, was a chair, its back directed towards the twins. Erik stood beside it, watching them as they stopped and stared.

"So, you're Strucker's finest work?" asked Erik, clasping his hands together behind his back, narrowing his eyes slightly. "Interesting…"

"The iron man?" asked Pietro.

Erik smirked, gesturing towards the chair where one could clearly see someone was sitting, a cape draped over them.

"Talk," said Wanda. "And if you are wasting our time-"

"Did you know this church is in the exact center of the city?" asked Ultron. "The elders decreed it so that everyone could be equally close to God. I like that. The geometry of belief."

Erik felt intrigued and even more happy about the fact he had agreed to help Ultron when he saw Wanda Maximoff's eyes turn red.

"You're wondering why you can't look inside my head," said Ultron, his back still facing the twins.

"Sometimes it's hard. But sooner or later, every man shows himself," said Wanda.

Ultron stood up from his chair then, taking the cape off of him and turning to face the twins. He walked forwards as the twins staggered backwards slightly at the sight of him while Erik simply smirked.

"Oh, I'm sure they do," he said. "But you needed more than a man. That's why you let Stark take the scepter."

"I didn't expect, but I saw Stark's fear," said Wanda, nodding her head. "I knew it would control him. Make him self-destruct."

Ultron nodded his head. "Everyone creates the thing they dread. Men of peace create engines of war. Invaders create Avengers. People create… smaller people? Uh, 'children'! I lost the word, there. Children… designed to supplant them, to help them… end."

"Is that why you've come? To end the Avengers?" asked Wanda.

"I've come to save the world," said Ultron. "But also, yeah."

A smirk appeared on Erik's lips.

* * *

 **Avengers Tower, New York**

"Go home, Sam," said Maria, placing a hand on his arm as she sat down next to him. "You don't want to be a part of this mess."

"I feel like I already am," he replied.

He was sitting on the floor by the windows in the trashed living room, looking out over New York.

"Just a bit. At least you don't have to be even more a part of this," said Maria. "This is our mess… Tony and Bruce are on _our_ team. _We_ have to fix this."

"I've been thinking about that…"

"What?"

"The team," he said, looking at Maria. "I've got the suit and I'm helping Steve with Bucky. Maybe it's time for me to consider being more than just the outside help."

"You want to join the Avengers?" asked Maria quietly before smiling. "I would like that. And I'm sure Steve would too. You're our friend. Having an excuse to see you more often isn't bad. But you gotta be sure."

Sam sighed, looking back out over the city.

"We deal with strange things, Sam. Not just thugs," she continued.

"I know…"

"Go home," said Maria again. "Think about it and stay away from this mess. If you're still sure after we've dealt with this, then you can join."

For a while, Sam continued to stare out through the window, Maria watching him as he contemplated what she had just said.

"Yeah, I like that idea," said Sam. "Tell Steve I said bye."

"Of course." Sam stood up, leaving Maria on the floor. He smiled down at her once before turning and walking towards the elevator, which was still functioning even after everything the tower had been through.

Maria was left alone in the living room. A breeze coming from the gaping hole in the wall to the left made it a bit chilly in there, though it felt good to get some fresh air. The city outside was mostly asleep by now seeing as sunrise was close. And the silence that surrounded Maria calmed her down. She was going over what had happened the past night in her head; remembering her and Steve nearly lifting the hammer, Ultron appearing, the fight with the taken Legionnaire and their plan. If it was a plan. Mostly, this plan just consisted of the Avengers trying their best to find anything on Ultron; where he was and what his plan actually was. After all, even though they knew what Ultron wanted his plan to have for outcome; the extinction of the Avengers, they didn't know how he was planning on getting that outcome. Not only that, but they were afraid that he was going to hurt people, civilians, if they let him wander around carefree for too long.

Footsteps behind Maria was what made her snap out of her trail of thoughts. She turned her head ever so slightly to see who had approached her and saw the faint color of Steve's blue shirt.

"I sent Sam back home. He says goodbye," said Maria as Steve sat down next to her where Sam had been sitting earlier.

"Good… He's not ready to deal with something as big as this," said Steve.

"He wants to join, you know."

Steve smiled, nodding his head. "I'd be surprised if he didn't. He's got the potential."

Maria smiled at this before her smile slowly faded away, a question repeating itself silently in her mind as it had been doing for the past few hours, ever since Ultron had appeared.

"The wedding's not going to happen any time soon, is it?"

A silence followed her question in which Maria looked over at Steve, worried she might have said something wrong. Though he simply looked at her fondly, a soft smile playing on his lips.

"No, it won't," he said, shifting slightly so that he could put his arm around her. "But it _will_ happen."

"God… we were having so much fun," said Maria, her fingers fumbling with a fold in Steve's pants above his knee. "Why did this have to happen? What drove Tony to do something so stupid?"

"Stark _and_ Banner."

"You know those two, Steve. Bruce would never do something as hasty and naively as this and Tony is very good at persuading Bruce," said Maria. " _This_ is all Stark."

"Maybe it is," sighed Steve. "Either way, I believe fear is what drove him to do it."

"Fear of what?"

"Well, you heard him talking about the Chitauri and from what I've heard from you, Tony never really managed to grasp the context of aliens existing even if Thor is walking amongst us," said Steve. "And I suppose, aliens being something new which he can't study or know more about with the help of science, he's afraid. He knows they can be more powerful than all of Earth combined because he'd probably seen it when he went through that wormhole. He's scared of that… And I think he's putting the weight of the world on his shoulders alone."

"When in fact, it's the entire team's weight to carry," finished Maria, earning a nod from Steve. "Yeah, you're right, I think… Well, what about you? This entire world is new for you… How are you handling this entire thing with aliens?" d

"I don't know," he replied with a sigh. "I suppose the fact that this world is new for me makes it easier for me to understand the, uh, alien thing. Seeing as I just put it in the category of new things in this world. So, honestly, I'm fine. And you?"

Maria raised her eyebrows slightly, leaning her head against Steve's shoulder. "Well, I've always believed more in aliens than God, so, I'm quite alright with it. Yeah, it's scary to think they can just sort of annihilate Earth. But I'm good as long as Thor stays on our side."

"Yeah, Thor's going to be a big help with all this," agreed Steve before leaning his head slightly to the side so it was leaning against Maria's head. "This is going to be a couple of long weeks…"

"You said it," mumbled Maria, shifting her arms so she was hugging Steve from the side. "But at least we have each other… and the others of course."

Steve chuckled. "Yeah, we do."

* * *

 **Guys, don't forget to leave a comment every now and then. I appreciate those I've gotten A LOT, thanks for those 3. But it wouldn't hurt with a little more feedback even though I know my writing's not that good nor is my storytelling... But I am trying and I think I'm getting a little better at it...**


	16. Chapter 15, Mind Games Part 1

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 15~  
Mind Games Part 1**

The elevator doors opened with a ding; Hill, Steve and Maria exiting it. The two lovebirds had just woken up from a very short nap they were in desperate need of (which had been all they had had time for seeing as things didn't go quiet until late in the morning after Ultron's appearance), and while Steve and Maria were on their way upstairs, they had walked into Hill who decided to give them a little report on what she had found out about Ultron so far, following them upstairs as she did.

"He's all over the globe. Robotics labs, weapons facilities, jet propulsion labs… Reports of metal man, or men, coming in and emptying the place," said Hill, the three of them slowly making their way up the stairs.

"Fatalities?" asked Steve.

"Only when engaged," replied Hill, beginning to try and find something on her PAD while she continued to talk. "Mostly guys left in a fugue state going on about old memories, worst fears, things moving on their own, and 'something too fast to see'."

"Maximoffs," said Maria.

"That makes sense he'd go to them. They have someone in common," said Steve.

"Yeah, Strucker," replied Maria with a sigh. "You think they're going to bust him out?"

"No, I don't," replied Hill, stopping in her tracks and turning her PAD to show the picture she had been searching for.

It was a picture of Strucker lying on his bed in his cell; dead. On the wall behind him, the word 'peace' was painted in blood. Probably his own blood.

"That's just… great," replied Maria sarcastically.

"I'll keep an eye out for more and report to you when I find something," said Hill, looking at the both of them before taking a turn to the right, away from the lab where Steve and Maria were going.

"Alright," replied Steve.

The two of them were already dressed partly in their uniforms. Maria was indeed wearing her suit, though had a long, grey cardigan wrapped around her suit too and she wasn't carrying any weapons. Her hair was still dripping slightly from the shower she had taken just a couple minutes ago (a shower which she hadn't taken alone; Steve having joined her which was the reason for why she and Steve were the only ones still not in the lab where they were going to try and make up a plan). Steve was wearing his uniform's pants and boots. Though he wasn't wearing the upper part of his uniform, simply wearing the grey shirt he usually had on underneath the uniform or while exercising. His hair was still damp as well.

As they were meters away from the lab, Steve stopped when he, with the help of his super soldier hearing, heard Clint talking on the phone.

"Barton," said Steve, causing Maria to stop walking as well. "We might have something."

"Yeah," said Clint absentmindedly before hanging up.

"Who's that?" asked Steve.

"Uh, girlfriend," said Clint, shrugging slightly before he followed the two of them inside the labs where the rest of the Avengers were all seated.

Natasha and Tony had just gotten a call from Rhodey which they immediately reported Steve and Maria on before Steve retold everything Hill had told them. Grabbing a spare PAD, Maria searched for the picture Hill had shown them of Strucker before handing it to the Avenger standing closest to her; Thor.

"What's this?" asked Tony, walking over to see the picture Thor was currently looking at though only getting the PAD shoved at him by Thor, who obviously was still rather mad about the whole situation.

"A message," replied Steve. "Ultron killed Strucker."

"And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us," said Tony.

"This is a smoke screen," said Natasha. "Why send a message when you've just given a speech?"

"Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss," deduced Steve.

"I bet he-" said Natasha, using her place in front of a computer to search for something. "Yeah, everything we had on Strucker's been erased."

"Not everything," said Steve, earning looks from everyone.

"What do you mean?" asked Bruce.

"I know for a fact that there are a lot of files in paper form downstairs," said Steve.

"Well, then… Let's go," said Maria.

Immediately, the entire team followed Steve down to where the files were. Boxes upon boxes were piled up in the storage room; all filled with files having something to do with whatever the name of the box was. All Avengers grabbed the boxes associated with Strucker before making their way back up to the labs, everyone beginning their own search for any sort of helpful information. Maria and Clint grabbed a couple of boxes and placed themselves a little away from the rest of the group in order to have more room to search through the boxes.

"He had a lot of known associates," mumbled Maria, looking at the box she had grabbed which was filled with files on all who were suspected of knowing Strucker. There was another one like that over by the rest of the Avengers.

"Wait," said Tony from where he and the others were standing. "I know that guy. From back in the day. He operates off the African coast. Black market arms." Maria and Clint made their way over to the group, seeing them all looking at Tony with meaningful looks as he spoke about the black market stuff; "There are conventions. Alright? You meet people. I didn't sell him anything."

"It's okay, we believe you," said Maria.

"He was talking about finding something new, a game-changer. It was all very Ahab," continued Tony.

"This?" asked Thor, pointing towards one of the pictures of the man Tony had found.

"Uh, it's a tattoo, I don't think he had it," said Tony.

"Those are tattoos, this is a brand," said Thor, pointing towards a spot on the man's neck right underneath of his left ear which obviously was a mark that had been burned there.

"Yeah," said Bruce as he placed himself in front of the computer, quickly searching what the mark meant. "It's a word in an African dialect meaning 'thief'. In a much less friendly way…"

"What dialect?" asked Maria.

"Uh, Wakanada – Wakanda," said Bruce.

"If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trace goods…" said Tony, his gaze diverting over to Steve.

"I thought your father said he got the last of it," said Steve.

"I don't follow," said Bruce. "What comes out of Wakanda?"

"The strongest metal on Earth," said Tony.

"Vibranium…" breathed Maria. "Ultron wants Vibranium."

"If he gets his hands on Vibranium-" started Steve.

"We gotta stop him," concluded Clint.

"No arguing with you there," said Tony.

"Where is this guy now?"

* * *

 **Salvage Yard, African Coast**

"Me, Thor and Tony will take the front," said Steve quietly as the team, minus Bruce who would wait in the Quinjet as usual unless he was told the Hulk was needed, made their way through the hide-out of Ulysses Klaue. "Nat, Barton and Maria stay in cover until all hell breaks loose. 'Cause it will."

They arrived at the catwalk where they found Ultron, the twins and one more man standing, talking to Klaue. Behind them, the wall had opened to show a secret stash of tubes filled with, presumably, Vibranium. At the sight of the extra man nobody had known worked with Ultron, Maria disobeyed the orders she had gotten from Steve earlier and walked out of her cover and up to where Steve, Thor and Tony were standing to confront Ultron. She was ready to walk past her three teammates and confront her father once and for all though Steve grabbed her and kept her behind him.

They approached the catwalk slowly; Tony, Thor, Steve and Maria, watching and listening. The entire team was surprised at the way Ultron looked. Clearly, he hadn't just made his army of metal suits bigger, but he had also made himself a suit which was way bigger than any of those Stark had made during his life. It almost looked a little frightening to Maria.

"Don't compare me with Stark!" exclaimed Ultron, pushing both men he had been talking to down a flight of stairs. "It's a thing with me. Stark is… He's a sickness!"

"Ah, Junior. You're gonna break your old man's heart," said Tony, alerting the four of them of the Avenger's presence.

"If I have to," said Ultron, the four villains walking forwards slightly.

Erik lulled his head to the side, watching Steve and Maria with a smirk on his face. He was wearing jeans along with a sleeve shirt, his sleeves rolled up slightly. He didn't look evil, though Maria saw him as nothing else.

"Nobody has to break anything," said Thor.

"Clearly, you've never made an omelet," said Ultron.

"He beat me by one second," said Tony, to which Maria rolled her eyes slightly.

"Ah, yes, he's funny," said Pietro, taking a step forwards. "Mr. Stark. It's what? Comfortable? Like old times?"

Pietro had gestured towards their surroundings. It looked much like a place smugglers used to hide or transport their goods. Though the most of the goods were weapons, missiles and such, which Maria was sure of Pietro was referring to the most.

"This was never my life," said Tony.

"You two could still walk away from this," said Steve to Wanda and Pietor, Ultron's gaze turning to Steve.

"Oh, we will," said Wanda.

"I know you've suffered-"

Ultron made a noise of disgust suddenly, causing Steve and the others to look at him as he chuckled.

"Captain America. God's righteous man," said Ultron. "Pretending you could live without a war." Maria looked at Steve, forgetting her father for a moment as Ultron's words sunk in. "I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but-"

"If you believe in peace, then let us keep it," said Thor.

"I think you're confusing 'peace' with 'quiet'," said Ultron.

"What's the Vibranium for?" asked Maria, seeing the hatch in the wall behind Ultron where the Vibranium was being stored. It glistened beautifully as the lights shone down on it, though Maria didn't think too much about the beauty of it at the moment.

"I'm glad you asked, _girl_ , because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan," said Ultron sarcastically before, indeed, all hell broke loose.

Tony was dragged forwards by something magnetic Ultron used on his suit while metal robots climbed over the edge of the catwalk, attacking Steve, Thor and Maria. Taking out her sword, she could, much more easily than the other night, take out the metal robots that attacked her and Steve. That was, until actual men appeared, shooting at them. Most likely, these men were Klaue's.

When the twins and Erik joined the fight, Steve and Maria got separated by a blast of Wanda's powers. Maria was about to make her way to him again, when she caught sight of Erik pointing a gun at her. She just about managed to dodge the bullet using her sword. However, as Maria made her way towards her father, he raised his other hand and with a single twitch of his fingers, the sword she had been so fond off lately, was thrust out of her hands and thrown over the edge of the catwalk down the pit below them. She leaned over the catwalk to try and catch a glimpse of the light from her holographic blade, though it was nowhere to be found.

"Oops," said her father's voice from beside her, causing her to take out her daggers before slashing them at her father.

He easily dodged and backed away, chuckling at her try to hurt him. "You realize we have the same powers, right? Oh, no, sorry, I forgot… You don't realize that."

He obviously referred to the fact that he had gotten away from them earlier that week because of the fact that they had forgotten he couldn't be killed so easily. The anger at that fact made her attack him again. Erik this time grabbing her hands and holding them above their heads, their faces inches apart.

"You can't hurt me with those daggers of yours, sweety. You're going to need some better weapons."

Maria struggled against his hold before glaring at her father; "The satisfaction I'll feel knowing you'll feel at least some pain is better than seeing you never feeling any pain ever again."

With that, she lifted her knee up against his private parts, causing him to back up and let go of her as he doubled over in pain. Knowing exactly what to do to make him shut up at least for a moment, she thrust the blade of one of her daggers right through his forehead, knowing it would at least make him be away from the fight for a while so that she could focus on the mission at hand: stop Ultron from getting the Vibranium he needed.

 _"Thor, status."_ Steve's voice was heard over the com-system while Maria continued to fight off the men and metal robots coming her way.

 _"The girl tried to warp my mind. Take special care. I doubt a human could keep her at bay. Fortunately, I am mighty…"_

Maria punched the last man close to her unconscious, hissing slightly at the pain in her hand before turning to look where the others were. However, instead of seeing her teammates as she turned, she saw the face of Wanda Maximoff. Her hand made a funny move in front of her face and before Maria could react, the red glow coming off of Wanda's hands had surrounded her vision…


	17. Chapter 16, Mind Games Part 2

**A/N**

 **This chapter may be a little bit dark... But I don't think it's so dark that I actually have to warn people to not read it. I rewrote it. The first one was much more graphic than this and MUCH darker. But this is better, I think.**

* * *

 **Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 16~  
Mind Games Part 2**

 **Steve's POV**

Music was blasting. People were laughing; _dancing_ \- Soldiers were dancing with their girls.

 _Smiling._

Steve walked towards them. As he did, someone took a picture, the flash making him flinch. Further away from him, a couple of soldiers had spilled wine on their friend and to Steve, it rather looked as though their friend had been shot.

He stopped walking, taking in a deep breath.

This was what it would have been for him had he returned after the war. If he had never fallen down into the ice; he would have been reminded of the war each day because there would be no war for him to stay in. Now, he had no war like back in the days, but he was always fighting. Whether it was against Hydra or someone smuggling weapons over the boarders, he was _always_ fighting. He didn't have time to relax and take it all in. He didn't have time for the fears the war had caused him, the still existing stress that it was giving him in his every-day life.

As he continued to walk, he fought he heard the sound of gunshots in the background, though as he tried to listen a bit better, the shots disappeared and all he could hear was the music. Now that he was used to different music and a better quality of it, he thought it sounded rather dull. Though he couldn't help but feel at home with the music and the way people danced and laughed with each other. It was obviously set in his own time. The time he missed less and less for each day that passed with Maria.

"Are you ready for our dance?"

Steve turned around, coming face to face with Peggy. He looked at her with a shocked expression on his face, not being able to stop the warm feelings that appeared in the pit of his stomach as he saw her beautiful smile, her red dress and her twinkling eyes.

"The war is over, Steve," said Peggy with a smile. "We can go home. Imagine it."

As if it was on que with what Peggy had asked her to do, everyone disappeared. Steve was left alone in the large room, the music having been turned off. And to him, that was exactly what he figured going home would be like now. Not just if he had indeed never crashed into the ice, but also in the modern world. What was he supposed to do then? The emptiness of it was unbearable to him and he wished Peggy could return to him…

As he stood there, he saw glimpses of him and Peggy dancing, smiling. Though it wasn't real, he wasn't dancing with her. He only saw it in front of him. Though at the moment, he wasn't quite sure what was real…

"Steve?"

Again, he turned around. Though this time, something else happened…

 **Maria's POV**

Darkness. Isolation. Emptiness.

She walked forwards, her hands outstretched in front of her as she tried to find a light switch or anything solid so that she would figure out where she was. Though the longer she fumbled around and the more she turned and twisted around, she got more and more lost.

A cold breeze suddenly blew right through her, making her heart twist and turn in pain.

"Hello!?" she called out.

For a brief moment, she thought she felt someone's hand press against her cheek, her name being called. Though it felt so far away. So far…

 _"Maria…"_

She turned around at the sound of the voice. Fear grasping her heart as she recognized the voice. Darkness was still seen in front of her though she suddenly knew she wasn't alone anymore. Someone else was there with her.

The sound of a light being turned on was heard and she suddenly saw a lamp hanging from a ceiling she could not see a little ahead of her. The light illuminated what looked like part of a kitchen and Maria recognized it immediately. It was the kitchen of the apartment where she and her mother had lived after her father had left.

A woman was standing in the kitchen, her back towards Maria. And as Maria walked towards the woman, she saw the woman twitching with fury. Maria's hands were shaking and although she recognized the scene, she couldn't place which memory was being replayed. It was as though the memory was so horrible that she couldn't even remember it.

The woman turned around as Maria reached her and it was indeed Maria's mother. She was pale, as pale as she had looked when Maria had found her dead in the living room all those years ago. A bit of vomit was even on her shirt just as Maria remembered. Was this truly the only picture her subconscious mind had of her mother?

"What did you do!?"

"I'm sorry mummy!"

Neither Maria or her mother were talking. The voices came from somewhere else, though she recognized the voices to belong to the two of them. As they continued, Maria and her mother simply stared at each other.

"You made it MOVE!"

"M-Mummy, please!"

"Don't you DARE!"

Her mother now lifted her hand, slapping Maria right over the cheek, causing her to lose her balance.

 _"MUMMY!"_

However, instead of falling to the floor, Maria found herself tumbling down a hill before landing on something wet and soft. She groaned, her neck hurting from the fall and as she lifted herself onto all fours, she let out a scream at the sight of what was underneath of her.

Bodies.

At least over fifty of them all piled up onto each other in the pit she had fallen. She recognized those who weren't too mutilated as her _own victims_. And as she screamed, moving towards the edges and trying to climb up, her nails breaking off as she did, her eyes landed on her father lying amongst the dead bodies, an arrow through his heart and his eyes wide open, staring at her.

"Please…" she cried. "Help!"

 **Steve's POV**

He found himself face to face with a wall as he turned around at the sound of Maria's voice. He wasn't in the large room anymore and he wasn't standing on the dancefloor either. Behind him, he heard someone cry quietly. And he turned around again.

There, on a double-sized bed, which happened to be the only thing in the room apart from a window, sat Maria. She was the one crying.

Steve walked over to her quickly, crouching down in front of her and grasping her hands.

"Maria?" he asked to which she looked at him with bloodshot eyes.

"Do you love me?" she asked, her voice seeming to echo strangely.

"Of course I do."

More tears streamed down her cheeks as she smiled, taking one hand and placing it against his cheek lovingly. "Then stop."

Steve furrowed his brow. "Stop what?"

"Come with me… Stop being an Avenger. Let's go away somewhere and grow old together. Just you and me… Away from all the war."

Steve wanted to say yes even though he knew he would struggle. He'd do it for her. Though he couldn't say anything. It was like an invisible hand was holding his lips together while something else made his voice stop working.

Maria's face turned into one of horror at his lack of response to which Steve himself nearly wanted to cry. She retracted her hand away from him and pushed his other hand, which was still holding hers, off her.

"You don't love me…"

Again, Steve wanted to reply, though he couldn't. It almost started to physically hurt him not being able to reply.

"I knew it… You're using me. You've got the war, the fighting, keeping you from feeling not useful. And then me, the woman you use for whenever you need to have some 'fun'!"

She was hysterical at this point, something Steve had never seen before. She stood up, tears still streaming down her face. Steve also stood up, though was still unable to reply.

"You don't love me…" she whispered as she walked towards the now open window.

A horrible thought struck Steve and as he went to follow her, an invisible barrier held him in place, forcing him to stand back and watch as Maria, crying and heartbroken, walked over to the window-sill and stood up on it.

"You don't love me…" her voice was now a mixture of her own and Peggy's, only causing him even more physical pain.

 _"We can go home now."_

She turned her head to look at him one last time and when the barrier was finally gone, letting Steve begin to run towards her; she jumped.

"MARIA!"

 **Maria's POV**

A hand grabbed hers, lifting her out of the pit. Arms were wrapped around her, soothing her and calming her down. And before she knew it, the sight of the pit was gone and she was sitting in a bedroom. The arms had belonged to Steve, that she knew. Though they were gone now.

A door opened behind her, causing her to turn her head to see Steve standing in the doorway, looking down at her with a surprised look on his face.

"What are you doing on the floor?" he asked her.

"I-I-"

"Never mind," he said, waving her off, which already was odd.

She stood up, watching as Steve walked over to the bed, placing a bag on it and taking something out. As she had stood up, Maria noticed a wedding ring around her finger.

"So, I bought this for us," said Steve, walking back to Maria. "The woman behind the desk said this was the best test they had."

Maria looked down at what Steve was handing her and to her utter most shock and disbelief, it was a pregnancy test.

"What- Why are you giving me this?"

"Why do you think?" asked Steve amused.

"But- Steve, I can't… I can't have children."

Steve's smile dropped. The entire scenery changed. The light that had come from the window disappeared, darkness surrounding them now. Steve stared at Maria emptily. His hand still holding the pregnancy test.

"But… Why?"

"You know why, Steve," said Maria simply. "Please, don't do this-"

"Why did I marry you then!?"

Maria jumped back as Steve threw the pregnancy test to the floor in a fit of rage.

"Steve-"

"No!" he said, pointing a finger at her. "You're nothing to me. You're _barren_. I can't believe I ever wanted _you_."

Tears were streaming down her face again as Steve pushed past her, the darkness once again consuming her.

She was alone again. Afraid. Hurt…


	18. Chapter 17, Farmhouse

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 17~  
Farmhouse  
**

When Maria had come back around, she had been greeted with the face of Tony looking down at her with a worried crinkle on his forehead. He had helped her up and walked her back over to the Quinjet, Steve and Clint (who was helping Steve walking) following behind them. Although Steve and Maria had been placed side by side, Steve had moved away from her the moment his strength had returned to him. Normally this would have probably worried Maria slightly. Though now, with all she had seen, she didn't feel anything. If anything, she had felt relieved when Steve moved away from her.

The Quinjet was so quiet, Maria was sure she could drop a needle and hear it land. No one had informed the affected of what Bruce had done yet under the influence of Wanda, though no one had to tell them that it had been horrible considering Bruce looked as though he had just been the death of the entire universe. Remorse, guilt and sorrow were only a few of the emotions Maria could read coming off of him.

Even Thor, who had been so confident he wouldn't be affected, was looking a little pale. Seeing as he had been helped on board the Quinjet as well, Maria knew he had been affected just as badly as the others.

Tony came to sit down next to Maria, Clint staying behind the controls at the front of the ship.

"So…" said Tony, quiet enough for the others not to hear. "Cap already knows… But, uh, Hill just informed me that, after the Hulk's little scene, we need to stay low for a while."

Maria pulled the blanket she had been given tighter around her body, nodding her head; "U-Ultron might do something while we do…"

"We'll keep an eye open for any of his activities of course. And we'll keep on trying to figure out his master plan," he said. "But I don't think the team minds a day or two's rest."

"No, I don't think we do…" replied Maria simply.

Tony seemed to consider his next words rather carefully before he silently said them; "How are you feeling?"

The question made Maria's heart do a somersault and the air in her lungs was nearly pushed out of her. How did she feel? Bad? Beaten? Scared?

"I don't know… Honestly, I don't," she said quietly, shaking her head as her gaze wandered over to her engagement ring. "It just feels as though everything suddenly fell apart."

"Why do you say that?" asked Tony quickly. "Nothing's changed. All the little witch did was show you all what fears are lurking deep down there."

"All?" asked Maria, raising her voice slightly, earning several looks from most of the Avengers except Bruce and Clint. "All!? Yeah, sure, that's _all_ she did. Isn't it? Just a bit of fear, nothing else!"

"Maria-"

"No, just – leave me alone," said Maria, turning her head away from Tony and clenching her hands into fists.

Although she knew the shouting hadn't been necessary, she couldn't deny the fact that his words had struck hard. He didn't know what Wanda's powers had showed to her. How could he even begin to assume it was as easy as _just their fears_? It had been more than that. It had been deeper than that. Wanda's powers had showed Maria what was wrong in her life. It had brought back memories of her old life, showed to her that she was a broken and wrongful woman with more blood on her hands than possibly even the Winter Soldier. They had showed to her memories she didn't even have in her conscious mind, memories she must have tried to forget at some point in her life. Memories of her mother that she fought she didn't have. And it scared her that she didn't know everything about herself. What had it been that her mother hadn't wanted her to do? What had it been that her mother had been so angry about? And would that explain why her mother had always been so angry with her?

Though those new, frightening memories weren't the only thing they had showed her. They had also showed her the future. The future she and Steve would have; unhappiness. How she ever thought anyone could ever want to be with her, want to take that one big leap into becoming married just to never be able to take the next big step into parenthood with her, she didn't know. All she knew was that she thought it foolish of her to ever let Steve bind himself to her in such a way. At least, try and do so. They were only engaged after all. She could still call it off, which she probably was going to do now too.

But, was that what she wanted? The joy she had felt when Steve had asked her, the happiness she had felt when she was with him… Was it not worth it? Besides, Steve had said he didn't mind. Would he keep true to his words or come to regret them later on; as she had seen in her mind just now?

The conflict inside of her was too powerful along with the fear and worries of what other things she had seen and she couldn't help the small tear that slipped down her cheek. Surprisingly so, Tony hadn't left her side. Maybe her thoughts hadn't taken as much time as she thought they had or Tony had simply stayed in one position all that time. Though she doubted that last part and when she looked back at him, seeing the way his face turned from worry to realization at the sight of her tear, she broke.

It was silent and the others barely noticed it, though she cried. And Tony, albeit a little awkwardly, embraced her as she did.

No one noticed, apart from Steve.

* * *

They arrived at a farmhouse a couple hours later. It was surrounded by nothing but forest and fields. There wasn't even an actual road leading to the farm apart from a small, stony one. The sun was rising up in the East which cast an orange light over the farm. That, along with the songs of birds made the farm truly look like a place Maria could stay the rest of her life. It was cozy and away from the prying eyes of society (which still hadn't grown used to the fact that two murderers were a part of their group of heroes). All things Maria valued a lot.

They walked inside, following Clint who just barged in without knocking. Maria assumed he knew who ever lived there. Then again, it could also be an old, secret facility belonging to SHIELD, though once she entered the farmhouse, Maria very much doubted that last assumption.

There were coats hanging by the door, shoes standing underneath of them. They weren't placed there in a tidy way which reminded Maria of home. Though something about these coats and shoes made her raise an eyebrow as some of them were most certainly the size of children. That or dwarves, which Maria highly doubted.

This time, her assumption hadn't been wrong. And the whole scene before her surprised her a lot as it did to the other Avengers. Clint walked over to the pregnant woman standing in the kitchen of the farmhouse, wrapping an arm around her waist and kissing her cheek before looking back at his team, seeing their dumbstruck looks and smiling slightly.

He introduced the woman as Laura – his _wife_ , to which he gained even more dumbstruck looks. Tony seemed rather surprised by it all, more so than the others as he kept denying it even though it was staring him right in the face. Which was quite odd for Tony Stark.

"That's obviously an agent of some sort," said Tony under his breath to only his teammates.

Maria glanced over at Steve, who stood a little away from her with his thumbs in his utility belt, watching Clint and Laura with a surprised look on his face. Though he looked less shocked than the others. As did Natasha which was explained rather quickly.

Footsteps echoed out in the hallway and two children appeared, running over to Clint who embraced them. Maria soon realized they were _his_ children.

It all seemed rather odd, the way Clint had a life he had never told the others off. If anyone would have a completely different life which they kept from the team, it would be Natasha. She was the one you'd imagine to do something like that – not in a negative way of course.

Then Natasha walked over to the children and hugged them too, showing to the Avengers that she knew them just as much as Clint did which just answered Maria's confusion. Natasha _did_ know about Clint's secret life, she had just kept that from the team just as brilliantly as Clint had.

A pain appeared in Maria's chest to which she inhaled deeply, something no one noticed as they were too busy asking questions to Clint and Laura about the farmhouse and the family. She knew what it was as she had already felt it the moment she had seen those petite shoes and coats. This was Wanda's hallucinations spooking.

Thor exited the living room with Steve in tow. And while Maria stayed standing for a little while longer, she too exited the living room. As she made her way to the door, which had been left open, she saw Steve standing outside alone with no Thor in sight. He was looking back at the house, back in through the door and as his eyes landed on Maria, who stopped the moment she saw him, his gaze fell down to the ground before he turned and left Maria alone.

She took another deep breath, trying her best to relieve her chest of the pain it felt, before she walked out onto the balcony, deciding some fresh air might do her some good. She sat down on a wooden bench located there, her eyes drifting off over to the horizon where the sun was now nearly halfway up. Its warmth touched her face softly and she closed her eyes, feeling the pain lift slightly as her thoughts wandered away from anything that had to do with children. She had dealt with this pain before, though Wanda's little trick had brought _everything_ she had dealt with back. Everything she had repressed and everything she had moved on from.

Her mind drifted over to the strange memory she had re-seen of her mother. She was certain it was a memory as the hallucinations had all been much clearer than that very scene. Why had her mother hit her? And what was it she had moved that her mother cared about so much? Of course it was true that her mother hit her. Though there was never an actual reason behind it. For her to see her mother get angry over something and _then_ hit her, confused Maria. She was missing something, though she didn't know what.

"You left in quite the hurry," said a voice, making her jump slightly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"Bruce…" she breathed, offering him a smile. "Sorry, I just had to… get away."

"From what? The calm of not being out in the battlefield?" asked Bruce, sitting down beside her. "Because I know I'm feeling rather good about this."

"Thinking of staying, are we?" asked Maria amused.

"No," chuckled Bruce. "The team needs the other guy."

"The team needs _you_ ," assured Maria to which Bruce only gave a halfhearted smile.

"Besides," he said, "it's too dangerous. They've got kids here and you never know what can happen. Not with me."

"If you're thinking about your previous incident – that happened because someone meddled with your mind-"

"No, I'm not just thinking about that," said Bruce with a sigh. "I'm also thinking about the fact that it can _always_ happen. And even if I usually don't have someone meddling with my mind, it still is a part of me. I don't know what happens if I don't let him out every now and then. The longest I've been without an incident is a year."

"But he's housetrained now," said Maria softly. "He understands things. He's not just a big, angry - thing."

Bruce looked down at his hands. "That doesn't change the fact that he's dangerous. You saw that yourself when you first saw him back at the helicarrier a few years back."

Maria nodded her head, unsure of what else she could say to make him feel a little better. She knew and saw that Bruce craved, wished, for a different life. One that he could never get even though he'd decide not to be an Avenger anymore. If Maria or Steve decided to give up the life of a hero, they could always retreat to some place calm and become 'normal' citizens. Bruce didn't have that option.

"Either way," he said, looking back over at the horizon. "I didn't come out here to sulk about me. I came out here because you look like you need someone to talk to."

"I'm fine-"

"No, you're not," said Bruce quickly. "I'm not and Natasha is not. No one is. Seeing as everyone knows what my problem is… What's yours? What did she make you see?"

Maria shook her head, clasping her hands together nervously. "She made me see me."

"You?" asked Bruce.

"She made me see what I am. An unloved child with no parents. A murderer and an awful future wife…" her voice cracked at the end as the words came out of her mouth before she had even thought them. Her eyes filled with tears again though she fought against them albeit it hurt.

"Don't say that," said Bruce.

"But it's true," she said, coughing slightly to cover up for her trembling voice. "I'm an outcast of society. And I can't even… I can't even offer Steve this sort of life. With – With a normal house and a normal family… Hell, _I can't even offer Steve a family_."

"Why do you say that?" asked Bruce, furrowing his brow together.

"Because it's true! I told you, didn't I?" she said, looking at him. "You've seen the scar back when you ran tests on me and my _abilities_."

"Why, yes, but I don't understand why you can't have children?"

"The doctors told me – Bruce, honestly, I told you all this."

"No, but, the tests-"

"Sorry to interrupt," said Tony's voice as he appeared on the balcony too. "But Clint's just announced we're going to have to share rooms… So, I've taken the liberty of sleeping on the couch so you can all have beds."

"How kind of you," said Bruce sarcastically. "I suppose you won't have to share a room now?"

"God no," replied Tony. "But the Bartons want us inside so we can choose our rooms. Mrs Barton wants to make sure we all settle in before breakfast."

"Oh, I can do with some breakfast," said Bruce, standing up.

"No, but you were going to say something-"

"I think that can wait," said Steve's voice as he suddenly appeared again, walking up the steps to the balcony and creating an odd, stern feeling in the air, even Tony felt it which said a lot. "We don't want to be rude."

Maria felt a bit offended by his words, seeing as Bruce had actually something important to say. At least, it was something on the matter of children and anything about that matter was important to Maria.

As she passed Steve on her way inside, she couldn't help but give him a glare.


	19. Chapter 18, Mending

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 18~  
Mending**

Maria stood awkwardly by the bed, looking at the two bags she had placed on it. She herself had packed them before the mission, in case they for some reason couldn't return back to the Avengers Tower and they were filled with clothes and other supplies they'd need to stay under cover for a while. One bag was for Steve and one was for her and her mind was re-living the moment she had packed those bags. It was seeing and feeling the affiliation she had felt back then; the proud feeling of being able and allowed to open Steve's closet and grab things from it in order to take care of him.

Now, Maria barely dared to look at Steve. She didn't want to hurt him, though _she_ was pushing him away and she knew it. Each time she looked at him and he looked back at her, her face would fall down into a glare automatically and there wasn't anything she could do about it. In that moment, it would feel alright and like the right choice to make. After all, she didn't want Steve to be stuck with her; though at the same time, a part of her wanted to cling onto him; to feel the happiness and the love that he used to pass onto her whenever they were together in the same room. And most of all, make him feel her love for him. But then that haunting part of her mind; that part Wanda had awoken, took over and it was so strong that it felt right whenever it was in control. Afterwards, however, she'd feel sad and regretful.

"It's a nice room," said Steve from where he was standing by the window, his back to her. His voice sounded off, distant and cold. And all Maria replied was a small hum of agreement.

"I – uh – packed everything we might need for a situation like this before we left," replied Maria quietly. "Your bag's the larger one."

"Why's mine so big?" asked Steve as he walked over to the bed.

"I used to feel an obligation to take care of you," said Maria before she could stop herself; the haunted part of her mind taking over again.

Steve stared at Maria, an unreadable look on his face which pained Maria. She wanted to know how he felt; so why was she acting this way?

"You don't anymore?" he asked with a monotone voice, grabbing the bag and opening it, beginning to inspect what she had packed for him.

Maria didn't reply. She could feel the insults bubbling up to the surface, but this time, she fought against them. Swallowing them back down and biting down hard. Instead, she turned and headed for the doorway, though Steve's voice hindered her from leaving.

"What did she make you see?" he asked in a sigh, causing Maria to turn her head towards him.

She wanted to spill it all out, just tell him and hug him, make it all be over. But she couldn't. And it made her furious.

"The truth," was all she said before leaving the bedroom they had been assigned by Mrs Barton.

As she walked down the hallway, she thought she heard a noise coming from her current bedroom; like someone throwing something against the wall or harshly punching it in frustration. It made her pause and turn around again. Though she figured it best to not go back. Not until she had fought against that dark part of her mind more so it was under control again.

Had she decided to mend their relationship again? No. Not at all. In fact, she was leaning more towards the option to actual break of the engagement. What she had told Steve that she had seen wasn't a lie, after all. She had seen the truth; the truth about herself in a marriage (amongst other things).

And Maria loved him too much to put Steve through that sort of misery.

* * *

It was lunchtime when Maria walked outside again. To the right of the farmhouse, there was a large green house to which she headed and where she supposed they grew their food; vegetables and stuff. She hadn't been mistaken and the warmth and humidity inside was a nice relief compared to the stiff and cold atmosphere and tension between her and Steve. Little did she know that she had been followed and soon, the red hair of Natasha was seen through the large bushes of plants.

"Hey," said Maria, offering her a smile which she doubted was a very good one.

"It's a nice place, isn't it?" asked Natasha, walking over to stand next to Maria. "Cozy, big, away from society."

"We talking about the farmhouse or this green house? 'Cause I like green houses as much as any other-"

"No, the farm," replied Natasha with a smirk. "I helped him pick the spot."

"Are you saying SHIELD built this place?" asked Maria, cocking an eyebrow.

"Well, I suppose this place has always been a farm. They just gave it a bit of a make-over," said Natasha. "Made it inhabitable."

"Well, I kinda wish I still work for SHIELD now," said Maria. "If this is what they do for their 'employer of the week'."

Natasha chuckled, the two women beginning to walk around the green house, commenting on different plants and vegetables, trying to figure out what some of them were without googling; and laughing together as they got it wrong. All in all, they were having a good time and it almost made Maria forget about the tension between her and Steve.

"Wow, how do they do this?" asked Maria as they began heading towards the exit. "Whenever I buy a house-plant – a _house-plant_ – it dies within two days."

"Do you give it water?" asked Natasha, earning a 'are you for real' look from Maria.

"Yeah, obviously."

"And you put it somewhere where there's sunlight? Not too much but not too little?" asked Natasha.

"What!?" exclaimed Maria sarcastically. "Plants need sunlight!? Why, oh why, did no one ever tell me this?"

"Hilarious," snapped Natasha, earning a chuckle from Maria.

"I suppose it's my awful singing that kills them or something," joked Maria.

Natasha stopped walking then, earning a look from Maria. "You know," she said, "I didn't come out here to hang out."

"Oh?"

"You see, Bruce told me a little of what you had been talking about earlier this morning… And it made me wonder if, maybe, you wanted to talk?"

"It wasn't his right to say," said Maria, beginning to walk again, Natasha joining her.

"I know, but there's a reason why," she said. "I can't either."

The words made Maria stop in her tracks, her wide eyes looking over at Natasha who was offering her a saddened smile. "I don't want to talk about why I can't. But I can't."

Maria nodded her head, "Then you understand why I can't let Steve tie himself to me."

"No, I actually don't," said Natasha, crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't know what that witch showed you and I don't know what she showed Steve, but I do know one thing; and that is that Steve already has accepted you for who you are. You think he'd ask you to marry him if he hadn't?"

"But I can't let him tie himself to me when I have nothing to offer him," pressed Maria.

"Although I understand what you're saying, you have to realize that marriage is about more than that," said Natasha. "Marriage is about living with someone that you want to spend your life with. It's not about whether or not you can have a family together. Steve enjoys being with you and he wants to stay by your side the rest of your life. You enjoy being with Steve and you want to stay by his side the rest of your life. Tell me again why this marriage wouldn't work out?"

Maria was speechless, not only because Natasha had literally just fought the war Maria was going to have against that haunted part of her mind for Maria, but also because it all made sense. She had been so fixated on the idea of her not being able to have children, that she was overlooking the actual reason for Steve's proposal.

The question was whether Maria could mend their relationship again what with Steve's probable troubles after Wanda's attack and Maria's sour mood towards Steve.

"Now," continued Natasha, grabbing Maria's arm and linking hers through it; "This is what I want you to do…"

* * *

Night had fallen over the farmhouse and Natasha was sitting outside on the porch, a blanket wrapped around her and her eyes looking up at the stars. Her mind was on Bruce; what she had told him and his response. Although she felt saddened about it, she wasn't just going to give up. One thing was for sure; he liked her back.

The door swung open, making Natasha turn her head to look at whoever had joined her out on the porch.

"Didn't think you'd still be up," said Tony as he joined her, leaning against the fence around the porch.

"Well, I have a mission report to give you, haven't I?" asked Natasha with a smirk.

"Did it work?" asked Tony.

"I told her flat out what she wasn't seeing in her crazed, dazed mindset of hers, and I think it made an impact," said Natasha. "Then I told her to strip for him."

Tony spluttered out the word; "What?" as he raised his eyebrows. "That wasn't part of the plan!"

"No, but your plan sucked," said Natasha. "Come on, they weren't going to mend anything by just talking."

"Uh, yeah they were," pressed Tony.

"Did you talk to Steve?" asked Natasha innocently, smirking when Tony looked away from her briefly.

"I did… Well, I tried," said Tony. "Told him to talk to her earlier this morning to ask her what she'd seen."

"And?"

"Well, seeing as things were as cold as ice between them during lunch, I'm pretty sure that failed," replied Tony.

"So, it's all up to Maria now," said Natasha.

Tony sighed, turning around to look out over the farm, at least what he could see of it through the darkness. "Can't stand seeing them fighting…"

"It's a real nice thing you're doing for them, you know," said Natasha, standing up with the blanket wrapped around her shoulders. "Trying to mend their relationship."

"Just doing my job as a loyal team member," replied Tony, Natasha now standing next to him.

"Almost as nice as you helping Steve to buy the engagement ring," said Natasha. "I took a look at it, must've burnt a pretty decent hole in your wallet."

"I'm Tony Stark," he replied nonchalantly. "An amount of money like that doesn't even make a difference."

"So, why?"

He looked over at her and although the darkness made it hard for Natasha to see the expression on his face, she didn't miss the flash of emotions in his eyes.

"Why are _you_ helping me now?"

"You know why," she replied. "They're my friends. And they accept me for who I actually am."

"We all do," replied Tony before turning away from the railing, beginning to walk towards the front door again.

"You never answered my question," said Natasha, turning around as well, though staying put on the porch.

He stopped in the doorway, only his head turning slightly to acknowledge that he had heard her words before he entered the house again. Natasha stayed put for a couple more minutes, contemplating what Tony's answer would've been had he not been so afraid to talk about emotions, before she decided to do as Tony and call it a night.

Hopefully, when she awoke in the morning, the tension in the team caused by Maria and Steve's fight, would've dissipated a little if Maria did a good job on talking to Steve.

* * *

 **This is a bit of a filler chapter, though it's still important. :) Next chapter is gonna be all Maria and Steve's conversation that occurs at the same time as Nat and Tony talk! :) What do you all think, are they going to resolve it or nah?**


	20. Chapter 19, Don't Love Me

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 19~  
Don't Love Me**

It was late in the evening when Steve entered the bedroom they shared. Maria was seated on the bed, her head turning to look at him the moment he stepped through the doorway. He sighed, avoiding eye contact with her and sitting down on the opposite side of the bed, his back turned towards her.

"Steve…" said Maria quietly, not getting a response from said super soldier. "I'm sorry."

At the words, Steve's head perked up slightly.

"I'm sorry for what I've said and how I've been acting," she continued, shifting so she was seated cross-legged on the bed, facing him fully. "It's just been quite…"

"Strange," finished Steve, finally turning too, looking at Maria with a pained expression on his face. "I know."

"Natasha told me some – uh – stuff to say but… I just want to tell you, from the bottom of my heart, that I never meant to hurt you in any way… I promise you that," said Maria, her fingers fumbling with the engagement ring nervously. "It's just that the things that I saw, they made me rethink certain things and…"

"You want to take a break from… us," concluded Steve.

Maria's heart pained at his words and although it had been what she had originally planned, Natasha's words had changed her mind. She couldn't live without Steve, she knew that. And she wasn't prepared to go through the pain it would cause her to end the engagement.

"What? No," she quickly said though Steve held up a hand, hindering her from saying anything else.

"It's okay," he said, nodding his head. "I've been thinking too and… I think the best thing would be to not go through with it. The wedding."

Maria was speechless.

"We're both Avengers. Our lives are too hectic to even try and live normal lives. We're constantly out on the battlefield and I – Well, that doesn't matter. What matters is that we're both happy," said Steve.

"But I'm happy with-"

"And I think we're both happier if we don't have to change the way we are for each other."

"Steve," breathed Maria, looking rather upset about his words. "Listen to me and believe me when I say that I am happy with _you_. I've never been happier in my life then I am with you by my side so don't you dare say anything else. And we don't have to change ourselves to make this work, not at all."

"Yes, we do," said Steve. "Because I can't…" He looked up towards the ceiling once, letting out a long sigh before he seemed to gather the strength he needed to continue his sentence. "I don't think I can live without a war."

"If this is because of what Ultron said-"

"No, it's because of what I saw, Maria," he snapped, causing Maria to close her mouth quickly and stare at him as he continued to speak in a calmer way. "Wanda showed us our deepest fears, she showed us what's hidden in our unconscious minds… And she showed me what would happen if I stopped; stopped being Captain America. It wasn't very pretty. And she showed me what would happen if I did… and it wasn't very pretty either."

"I'd never ask you to stop," said Maria quietly. "You know that."

"But you would, after a while," he said. "Because we can't continue fighting the rest of our lives. And at some point you'll want to just… retire and be with me but I can't give you that, Maria, I can't."

"You're right, we can't keep fighting the rest of our lives. But I won't just leave you because you're not ready to stop. Please, Steve, you know that I'm not like that. And, fine, maybe I will be ready to stop first and then I will. But I won't force you to come with me just like you won't force me to continue," said Maria, shifting and grabbing Steve's hands in hers. "This is still Wanda's powers talking; I know it is. But we can conquer this-"

"I think we should break off the engagement."

They both looked up into each other's eyes shocked as the words came out of Steve's mouth. It was as though Steve himself hadn't thought to go through with it or thought he'd say it out loud, though once he had, he let go of her hands.

"You can get someone better," said Steve. "Someone that can give you what you deserve. A chance of a normal life. "

"Steve, look at me, I'm not normal," said Maria with a trembling voice. "I'm a Mutant. What sort of normal life can I ever get?"

"A better one than the one you've signed up for," said Steve, offering her a saddened smile which she didn't return at all. "This is for the better."

"No, it's not," she said, tears appearing in her eyes. "Don't you understand that I want to be with you? I love you, Steve!"

Steve looked away from her as she said these words, shifting slightly on the bed; "Don't, Maria. Don't love me."

He stood up from the bed, beginning to round it to walk towards the doorway. By now, tears were streaming down Maria's cheeks. She didn't understand anything. What had he seen that made him think that this was the right choice? Those were just fears, not a prediction of the future, as she had realized thanks to Natasha.

"You, uh, can keep the ring if you like," said Steve as he was by the door.

Maria looked at him, her eyes wide as she tried to see over the tears. "Steve… Don't do this."

"It's for the best, Maria," said Steve. "I hope you can understand that one day."

As a last try to not lose Steve completely; she cried out one last question; "We can still be friends, right?"

He stared at her for a while after she had asked this, seeming to contemplate whether that would be a good choice or not before he nodded his head, much to Maria's relief. "Of course. We're still teammates after all."

As he exited the bedroom, Maria fell down on the bed. She didn't cry - apart from the tears that were streaming down her cheeks, she wasn't sobbing – but just stayed on the bed, her head resting on the pillow and her eyes staring up at the ceiling. Her heart hadn't quite understood it yet; that Steve had just broken their relationship in two, as it had been such a calm break-up. No raised voices. No insults thrown at the other. Just calm words and Maria's ineffective tries to persuade Steve to think differently. A part of her even thought it was just a bad dream, or a continuation of Wanda's hallucinations. Though it wasn't. And that hard truth hit her harder than any bullet had ever done.

She made her way to the bathroom the moment her heart started to ache and her body turned numb. Whatever dinner she had eaten ended up in the toilet and she leaned against said toilet as she sobbed and cried on the floor.

In a burst of rage, she grabbed the ring Steve had given her and threw it across the room; making it land in the bathtub. Though afterwards Maria crawled towards said bathtub and grabbed it again, holding it in her hands as she continued to cry.

She should've tried harder to make him feel her love for him. Maybe then he would've been able to conquer Wanda's powers quicker and this would never have happened. She would've now been asleep in his arms, smiling and beginning to feel prepared to face Ultron again. Though now, everything had gone to hell and Ultron was the last thing Maria could even begin to handle.

After two hours, Maria fell into a restless sleep from the exhaustion of heartbreak.

* * *

When Steve left the bedroom, he had thought he would've felt relieved. Relieved because Maria was now free from him and his problems. Relieved because the woman he loved more than anything else in the world now had a chance for a normal life once she decided to quit the Avengers. After all, that time was going to come whether they wanted to or not.

Though he hadn't. The moment he had stepped outside of that bedroom, it felt as though something in his mind disappeared; a lock keeping him from thinking straight. And he felt remorse.

The heartbreak he felt after what he had just done hit him so hard he had to lean against the wall to calm himself again. He wanted to turn and walk back to Maria, tell her that he hadn't meant it; that she had been right when she told him that Wanda's powers were still haunting him. Though he couldn't. Perhaps it was his pride that kept him from it, or the fact that a part of him actually still agreed with what he had said to her, either way, he didn't. And that only made him feel worse about himself.

He stayed outside on the porch the rest of the night, reliving the moment he had said those words and seeing the pained expression on Maria's face over and over again. How he could've even begun to let Wanda's powers take that much control of him, he didn't understand. The only thing he knew was that he had made the biggest mistake of his life. And that it would haunt him till the day he died.

* * *

 **Most painful chapter I've ever written... Sorry it's so short, but I gathered it was enough sadness for one chapter...**

 **Inspiration: Breathe Me by Sia**


	21. Chapter 20, Guess Who's Back

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 20~  
Guess Who's Back  
**

Maria walked down the staircase, her head hurting badly and her legs feeling heavy. There was an empty feeling in her heart, gently seeping out into her chest and out into the rest of her body; making her feel cold and far off at the same time. Her feelings were out of control; one second she wanted to fall down to the floor and cry, and the other she wanted to hit something so bad it'd break in two. From time to time, she felt nothing at all and the cold emptiness in her chest would physically hurt her.

Though there was something oddly comforting about this sadness. She had been in this state of euphoria, it seemed, while she was with Steve, forgetting about the hard choices she had had to make in her life and the pain they had caused her; forgetting about previous heartbreaks and her struggles as a child. Now, they were all coming back to her, the familiar feelings soothing her heartbreak, oddly enough.

Though she hated it. Hated being in such a state of self-pity, anger and sadness. Hated being numb and seeing that dark vale hanging above her, nearly weighing her down as she walked with an as normal walk as she could.

She had brought this upon herself, the heartbreak. Had she reacted differently, not pushed Steve away, after Wanda's attack on the team, she might've been able to keep him by her side. Though she failed, having decided to push him away and invite the familiar feelings of hopelessness back in again; the euphoric feelings of love lost to her now probably to never return.

Natasha and Laura were the ones down in the kitchen. Maria had no idea of what the time was, seeing as she had just awoken at some point during the day, still in the bathroom. It had taken her a while to gather the strength to get out of the bathroom, feeling as though that very room shielded her from reality. Though she knew she had to get out, back to reality to face Steve and the pain he had put on her; the pain she had inflicted on herself.

"I shouldn't be saying it, but I will; Good morning," said Natasha, leaning back in the kitchen chair she was seated in. "How'd it go with Steve?"

There it was, that bit of reality Maria had been hiding from in the bathroom. How could she tell anyone? How could she even begin to tell such awful things?

Deciding against using words, seeing as she didn't know what she was going to say in the state she was in now, Maria simply placed the engagement ring on the table in front of Natasha, earning a horrified look from Laura who put her cup of coffee back down on the counter she was leaning against in shock. Natasha seemed calm, however, compared to Laura. The smile she had worn when Maria entered the kitchen was gone, replaced by a gloomy look of realization.

"You can't let this get to you," said Natasha, her eyes staring at Maria who sunk down onto a chair opposite of Natasha, leaning her face into her hands, still trying to get away from the reality she was facing.

"He didn't tell you?" was all Maria could ask.

"No. In fact, Steve seemed as normal as ever," said Natasha, a look on her face telling Maria she wasn't very happy about that. "What did he say?"

"He said; 'Don't love me'," replied Maria, shifting her hands so she could stare down at the engagement ring resting calmly in the middle of the table.

"He let the hallucinations get to him," concluded Natasha. "He'll get around again."

Maria rolled her eyes at the optimism of the assassin. It was the last thing she needed and Laura seemed to understand that better than Nat did.

"I'm about to make some dinner," interrupted Laura, walking over to the table, her pregnant belly seeming to make even that movement a little difficult. "Do you wanna help? Get your mind off of things?"

As Maria was about to answer, Clint walked in, pressing a kiss to Laura's cheek; the gesture making Maria look away as physical pain curled a knot in her chest. The archer whispered something into Laura's ear before she hurried off outside to do whatever Clint had told her to do. Maria, still thinking she was avoiding to look at the couple's sweet gestures to each other and keeping her eyes on the clock, pretending to be interested in the fact that she had awoken past lunch-time, missed when Clint grabbed the engagement ring from the table, inspecting it before realizing who it belonged to. Natasha gave him a pointed look which turned into a sad one quite quickly, making Clint understand exactly what had happened.

"I still have some work to do out on the porch," said Clint, placing the ring back on the table before Maria turned her head back around, never even noticing Clint had picked it up in the first place. "I think Laura will have dinner ready in an hour."

"See ya then," replied Natasha as Clint headed outside through the same door as his wife. "What are you going to do with it?"

Maria stared at the engagement ring for a little while before replying; "Steve told me I could have it; God knows why… It only remembers me of the pain he's caused me… And I want to say that I'm gonna sell it, or, melt it down and make a new jewelry out of it. But I don't think I can. Nat, I still love him. I love him so much. If I get rid of this ring, I might forget the best time of my life. The only good thing that I've ever had. And I can't lose that, not completely."

"So, you're keeping it?" asked Natasha softly.

"I think so," she replied, fighting back the tears that wanted to push forth so badly. "I just don't know where to keep it… I mean, we obviously – or luckily – don't have an apartment together and the Avengers Tower… I don't know, I just don't see myself staying there after all that's happened…"

"Of course not. After this mission, you're going to need some time off to find yourself again," agreed Natasha. "So, you'll keep it where you know no man or woman will ever get to it."

"Where?" asked Maria, looking at Natasha with pleading eyes.

"Close to your heart," replied Natasha, beginning to take off the necklace she was wearing, removing the locket and replacing it with the engagement ring. "There. You wear that at all times, and the happy times you've had with Steve will never go away."

Maria slowly grabbed the necklace from Natasha, holding it in her hands for a while before, with shaking hands, putting it on, hiding the engagement ring under her shirt, close to her heart.

"Alright," said Laura as she came back inside. "Dinner. Maria, you cut the vegetables and Nat, you fix the pasta. I'll make the Bolognese."

* * *

Dinner was ready and Laura had walked outside to gather everyone. Nat and Maria were busy preparing the table and seeing as there were quite a lot of Avengers staying at the house, they needed to put two tables next to each other, as close together as possible, to make enough space for both the Barton family and the Avengers.

Everyone sat down around the two tables, Maria and Steve sitting on opposite sides, while they waited for Tony to arrive. Apparently, a while ago, he had left to take a look on the Barton's tractor which didn't want to start anymore. He hadn't returned since then.

Although the Avengers were all talking while they waited for Tony to arrive, Maria couldn't help but sit quietly in-between Clint and Bruce, her hand constantly going up to the ring around her neck. She knew things were going to be difficult for quite some time, though she didn't want them to be. Each time Steve said something, her ears toned out everything but his voice and her heart writhed around inside of her in agony.

It wasn't until Tony walked inside of the house with a surprise guest that Maria finally managed to put the pain aside for a while.

"Guess who's back?" said Tony, raising his hands ever so slightly as he strode over to the table with none other than Nick Fury following him.

"Nick?" asked Bruce from beside her.

"This is where he's been hiding out," explained Tony.

He looked the same. The eye-patch was back and the leathery coat too. And as usual, there was an air of seriousness and pride around him. Although SHIELD was gone, Fury still seemed to be who he always was.

It was later that night that Fury actually began to talk about why he had shown his face to them; a couple hours after dinner. The sun was gone and only the lights inside of the house were keeping them from being completely blinded seeing as the moon wasn't out that night either.

Some beers had been opened and some games had been played, though Maria hadn't joined for any of it. At first, she had stayed on the couch in the living room which was connected to the dining room and kitchen – meaning she could hear the Avengers having fun and talking from where she was seated, sulking. Though Clint Barton's little daughter had gathered up some strength to go and talk to her and the girl became Maria's entertainment that evening. She asked Maria questions, funny and innocent ones about life as a superhero, before Maria made her steal one of the games the Avengers had been playing so that the two of them could play it together. The girl enjoyed drawing and painting, so Maria encouraged her to grab some of her equipment so they could do some of that. Towards the end of the evening, Maria had drawn five quite horrible pictures of houses and animals.

"That's a beautiful butterfly," said Maria, hearing Fury begin to talk about their current mission which she didn't really want to miss out on. "How about you go and show it to aunt Nat?"

The girl nodded her head and stood up, running over to the dining table where Bruce and Nat were sitting. Maria stood up, unfortunately finding herself standing next to Steve as she listened to what Fury had to say. Neither of them acknowledged the other, though she could see Steve glancing at her from time to time.

"Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time," began Fury. "My contacts all say he's building something. The amount of Vibranium he made off with, I don't think it's just one thing."

"What about Ultron himself?" asked Steve.

"He's easy to track," said Fury, casually leaning against a counter with his arms crossed over his chest. "He's everywhere. The guy's multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit. Still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans, though."

"Is he still going after launch codes?" asked Tony, making Maria turn her head towards where he was, throwing darts on his own.

"Yes, he is. But he's not making any headway," said Fury.

"I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare," said Tony.

"Well, I contacted our friends at the Nexus about that," began Fury.

"The nexus?" asked Steve.

"It's the world internet hub in Oslo," said Bruce. "Every byte of data flows through there. Fastest access on Earth."

"So, what did they say?" asked Clint, holding a dart of his own in his hands.

"He's fixated on the missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed."

"By whom?" asked Tony just as the dart Clint had been holding in his hands flew past his face and hit the very center of the dart-board Tony had been playing with.

Maria ignored their shenanigans, only focused on the mission at hand seeing as it was the only thing that was keeping her mind off of her current situation.

"Parties unknown," replied Fury.

"Do we have an ally?" asked Natasha.

"Ultron's got an enemy. That's not the same thing," said Fury. "Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is."

"I might need to visit Oslo," said Tony. "Find our 'unknown'."

"Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that," said Natasha.

"I do. I have you," said Fury, making Maria look away from him as his eyes travelled over all the Avengers. "Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere. Ears, everywhere else. You kids had all the tech you could dream up. Here, we all are, back on Earth, with nothing but our wit and our will to save the world. Ultron says the Avengers are the only thing between him and his mission. And whether or not he admits it, his mission is global destruction. All this, laid in a grave. So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard."

"Steve doesn't like that kind of talk," said Natasha jokingly.

"You know what, Romanoff," joked Steve back, pointing a finger at her.

"So, what does he want?" asked Fury, ignoring the two Avengers.

"To become better," said Steve. "Better than us. He keeps building bodies."

"Person bodies," added Tony. "The human form is inefficient. Biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it."

"When you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed," said Natasha, looking between Tony and Bruce.

"They don't need to be protected," said Bruce, grabbing the drawing Clint's daughter had made for Natasha earlier, an idea seeming to have popped up into his head. "They need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve."

"How?" asked Maria quietly, though still loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?"


	22. Chapter 21, The Dark Knight

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 21~  
The Dark Knight  
**

The Quinjet landed back at the Avengers Tower again after a flight that felt shorter than it was. Tony was on his way to Norway on his own and Steve's small group was only supposed to deliver Bruce to safety again. Though as Bruce made his way off the Quinjet and inside of the Tower, the Quinjet didn't take off.

Maria glanced over at Natasha with a confused look on her face; not understanding anything. Clint and Steve hadn't moved from their positions, so who were they waiting for?

With a sigh, Natasha stood up and walked over to Maria.

"I think it's better if you stay here too."

Her words repeated in Maria's head over and over again as she stared at the assassin next to her. Not only had Steve rejected her, but the team was going to start rejecting her now too?

"Why?" she asked quietly.

"You can't concentrate when you're in this state. And your sword's gone; you have no weapon to attack Ultron with," explained Natasha. "We all figured it would be better if you stayed."

"You all had a conversation about this?" asked Maria, beginning to feel more and more upset by the second. "About me and the _state_ I'm in?"

"Maria, please," said Steve from where he was seated, looking over at her; saying the first words ever since their break-up two days ago. "Don't make this any worse than it already is."

"Yeah, you going behind my back and talking about me and my feelings is pretty bad. But what's worse is that you all think you can make decisions for me. I'm not leaving this Quinjet. Period."

* * *

With slouched shoulders and a defeated look on her face, Maria watched as the Quinjet took off from inside the Avengers Tower. How had they convinced her, you ask?

Well, they hadn't. But when Maria felt the anger rise more and more between her and her fellow teammates Clint, Nat and Steve; she figured the best thing to do was cooperate as she knew the last thing she needed was another fight. They had a point when it came to her lack of a weapon seeing as she doubted daggers were going to do much against a metal man. Then again, she could fight Ultron in other ways. Or at least help Helen Cho in whatever way she could.

But anger was, and always would be, the emotion she feared the most and seeing as she had felt anger quite a lot lately _and_ let herself be influenced by it (her hateful comments towards Steve after Wanda's little tricks), she wanted nothing more but do as they told her to guarantee no more anger would be a part of her week.

Bruce walked up to her quietly, his hands in his pockets. It wasn't until the Quinjet was a little, black dot far off in the horizon, that either of them walked away from the window. They walked together, in silence, to the trashed living room. Plastic sheets had been put up over the holes in the wall to ensure that no rain would enter the building, but apart from that, the place was untouched.

"Now you know what I feel like most of the time," said Bruce, dusting off some of the sofa before sitting down.

"We don't leave you behind because of your emotions though," replied Maria as she joined Bruce on the sofa. "Well, technically we do, but it's still not the same."

"I know," replied Bruce with a sigh. "Just so you know, I was against the meeting."

"You had a formal meeting about me?" asked Maria, looking at Bruce with an unsettled look in her eyes. "Do I seem that unstable to you all?"

"Maria… Last night you stayed away from us all. Barely spoke a word. Not to mention you look pale and tired," said Bruce with a troubled look on his face. "And just now on the Quinjet, you stared at the same spot on the floor the entire journey. I think giving you a break from the mission was nothing but a loving action. They didn't say anything bad about you behind your back. Steve was just worried."

"Oh, Steve was worried, was he?" asked Maria sarcastically, though her sarcasm was left hanging in the air awkwardly as a longing pain took over her entire body. "Of course he was… This break-up is stupid."

"You said it," agreed Bruce.

"But we can't just take it back, can we?" asked Maria, more to herself than to Bruce. "Besides, if we did… Would it be the right choice? I've never heard of any relationship that was healthy when it came to two people in our line of business."

"I don't think there's been a couple like that," added Bruce quietly.

"The only relationships that work, are the relationships between the good guys and the bad guys," she said, lifting her feet up on the couch and wrapping her arms around her legs.

"It's not much more healthy than the one you're in now, trust me."

"Feels like it is…"

Bruce didn't say anything else, a comfortable silence hanging over the two of them as they both contemplated what they had just been talking about. Maria hadn't really thought about it like that before. She had been too high over heels with Steve to realize that maybe, even though they passionately loved each other, them being in the same business was what was keeping them from being able to move forward. Then again, maybe she hadn't been thinking about it like that because it never had been a problem. And it still wasn't; all that was a problem was the insecurities that Wanda had made come up to the surface of their minds.

It was a confusing problem and Maria doubted it would ever get fixed again too.

"You know what helps when you feel down?" asked Bruce, breaking the comfortable silence that had been hanging over them like a cosy little sheet. "Watching ones' favorite movie."

"I'm not going to watch a movie while the rest of the team work on defeating Ultron," stated Maria, shaking her head.

"Well, what else are you going to do? Sit and wait for them to arrive? That can take hours, maybe even a day," said Bruce.

"I'll wait then," mumbled Maria, resting her head on her knees as she continued to stare ahead at nothing in particular.

"Maria," pressed Bruce. "This is what the team wanted for you. To take some time off and I'm here to ensure that you do so."

Maria glanced over at Bruce, biting down the snappy comment of the actual reason behind why Bruce had been left behind as the mere thought of hearing herself say something awful like that to Bruce hurt her heart. Instead, she sighed, looking away from Bruce though not replying; much to his dismay.

"Maria, come on," urged Bruce as he stood up, grabbing her hand and pulling her up from the sofa.

"You're stronger than you look," commented Maria with a smile before she sighed again. "I can't do this. It feels wrong."

"I'm gonna say exactly what Tony would say in this sorta situation," said Bruce, turning to her and putting on a pout as he began his Tony impression. "'Think of it as doing something wrong as a teenager. You do it, you feel guilty, you feel happy and you don't tell anyone. That last part being the thing I want you to remember.'"

"That was the most awkward thing I've ever seen," said Maria before they both chuckled.

"Batman, the Dark Knight, right?" asked Bruce as he began walking up to lab.

"Uh… Yeah - how did you know?"

"Steve told me."

* * *

With a cozy jumper wrapped around her suit, Maria sat down next to Bruce on the sofa they had managed to move up the stairs and into the lab. It had taken them an hour to get the sofa to where they wanted it to be; and it had successfully managed to get Maria to think of anything but her pain. In fact, for at least an hour, she had felt as though everything was back to normal again. Though once the movie started, the flashy sight of Gotham appearing on the big screen, Maria realized once more that it was indeed not okay. Her heart longed to have Steve next to her (she knew this wasn't a kind thought) instead of Bruce just like it was the last time she watched this movie. She wanted to lean her head against Steve's shoulder, feel happy again and never have to worry about anything again.

Though life wasn't easy.

"Is that the Joker?" asked Bruce.

"Yeah," she replied quietly. "He'd never let his goons do it for him. He likes the stuff too much."

"You feeling any better?"

"Bruce, we've seen like… five minutes of the movie."

"Yeah… right."

.

"He reminds me of you."

"How?" asked Maria amused.

"The dark suit… The bad-ass fighting-"

"Well, I'm not Batman," chuckled Maria.

"-The dark voice."

"Hilarious."

* * *

The end-credits rolled. Once the action had begun, neither of the two had talked at all. Although Bruce hadn't seen any Batman movie ever, he still enjoyed it thoroughly. He was a bit annoyed with how the life of a superhero was portrayed. As though they were above everyone else and had a sour life. Though he agreed with the fact that, probably, some superheroes actually lived like that.

His eyes travelled over to Maria when this thought occurred to him. She was sound asleep. Her face, paler than ever, looked calm and stress-free. The land of dreams was probably the only place she felt at home at the moment.

Bruce didn't have a stable home either. He lived with Tony at the moment, though where was he supposed to go after that didn't work anymore? Live somewhere on his own? Doing what?

He shook his head, shaking those thoughts away from him. He'd deal with that, when the problem would turn into reality. Placing a blanket over her sleeping form, Bruce left Maria alone in the lab, glancing back only once to see her stir in her sleep slightly before drifting off again.

* * *

 _"Maria."_

She had been walking down the street to where she and Steve used to live before, two bags of groceries in her hands and a smile on her face. Her idea had been to make a nice dinner for him when he returned back home; though that plan was soon crushed.

Taking her away from the dream (she hadn't been aware that she had been dreaming until this happened) was a red hand grasping her shoulder. She didn't wake up, though she was pulled away from her dream and put into a strange place. Her surroundings were red and foggy and although she knew she was standing up, she could feel that she was lying, curled up in the sofa; probably looking sound asleep to whoever saw her body.

A figure appeared suddenly, sitting down in a chair a few feet away from her. It was clouded due to the fog around her though she was drawn to it.

 _"Maria."_

Whoever was sitting in the fog was calling her name and she slowly started to move towards him or her. Whether she was walking or not was hard for her to figure out seeing as she could see her feet move underneath of her, though also still feel her legs curled underneath of her from where she was sleeping on the couch. Whatever way she was moving, she was moving fast and soon she could see the figure clearly and was standing in front of him.

She realized the figure hadn't been sitting down by choice as he, an elderly man, was sitting down in a wheelchair. Over his head, which was shaven clean from any hair, sat a strange helmet with several wires attached to it and Maria kept staring at him. His eyes were still closed, though the moment he opened them, everything around her became clearer and less red. Maria deduced that she was seeing everything through his eyes, in some strange way.

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice sounding distant and strange to her, though the man understood him.

 _"I am a friend. Professor Charles Xavier of the Xavier school for Gifted Youngsters."_

Maria watched him, tilting her head slightly to the left.

 _"I have been watching you, as I have watched many other young mutants like yourself."_

"Why?"

 _"You have powers you are not yet aware of. If they are discovered too late, they may not be controllable. I want to help you."_

"I don't understand. What powers? My healing powers? 'Cause I can't do much with them."

 _"No, my dear. I think you know, deep down, what powers I am talking about. You're father has them. And you inherited all of his powers if not even more."_

Maria was about to ask him again what he was talking about; when the Professor cut her off.

 _"We cannot talk like this for too long. It drains me. Besides, someone is looking for you. You have to wake up soon. But I want you visit me out after your mission is over."_

"You know of Ultron?" asked Maria quietly. "If you have these powers – Where is he?"

 _"Ultron is everywhere. But I cannot help you with your mission. Your path is your own."_

"But, sir-"

 _"We will talk after your mission. I'll send someone to seek you out. I think you may have quite a lot of questions for me. Good day, Miss Dalton."_

The fog took over again, the Professor disappearing from her view. Though this time, the fog became so intense, it nearly frightened her. There was nothing but the color red that could be seen and had it not been for the soothing knowledge that the Professor didn't want her dead, seeing as he wanted her to seek him out after the missions, Maria would've become quite terrified.

Though after a couple of moments in the silent redness, Maria awoke with a start. Her entire body tensed and she threw herself up into a sitting position, gasping at what she had just been through. Questions swiveled through her mind; What was this school he had talked about? Did he know her father? How long had he been watching her? How was he watching her?

"Maria?"

She gasped again, turning around with a start and seeing Bruce standing in the doorway to the lab, his hands up to calm her down.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," he said awkwardly. "But, Tony's back and the Quinjet's back soon too."

"How long have I been asleep?"

"Twelve hours," replied Bruce and, upon seeing Maria's confused and startled face, raised his hands again. "Relax, you didn't miss anything. Besides, you probably needed the sleep."

"Oh, I feel like a complete jack-ass!" exclaimed Maria, standing up and beginning to move over to Bruce, deciding to worry about her strange 'dream' a bit later. "My friends have all been doing everything and I've been here, sleeping and dreaming away."

"It's okay. They wanted you to do this, remember?" asked Bruce, placing a hand on her shoulder as she passed him on her way down to the trashed living room. "Did you at least sleep well?"

"Yeah, but I had a weird dream."

* * *

 **It's a little filler chapter with Maria coping with everything, some bonding with Bruce and stuff. But things will go down from here on now. And I'm so excited to let you guys read it! (sorry this filler chapter sucked, but it's the small things I wrote while away on a mini vacation so it might not make much sense XD)**


	23. Chapter 22, The Body

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 22~  
The Body**

"And? Did you find our unknown, hopefully, ally?" asked Maria as Tony walked into the Tower, slowly taking off the sunglasses he had been wearing, although Maria didn't see what sunlight he had been shielding his eyes from.

Tony had finally returned from his trip to Oslo which, surprisingly so as Maria had thought he needed some more time over at the Nexus, had only taken him 24 hours. He had gone to visit the Nexus in hope to find the ally Fury had been telling the Avengers about over at the farmhouse; the one that had been making sure that Ultron couldn't get his hands on the launch codes for the missiles, changing them constantly so as to make it impossible for Ultron. Tony was meant to go over there to find out whoever this ally was, and Maria truly did hope this person was an ally of theirs as it felt like they could need some good news.

"I… I think I did. But I need to do some more research first," said Tony absentmindedly, walking past both Bruce and Maria without saying another word to them.

"Strange…" said Maria as they watched him go up the stairs towards the lab.

"Yes, for Tony, he was acting rather strange," agreed Bruce before the two of them shrugged and walked over to the kitchen.

Nobody had been there to clean up after the party, not to mention it had been trashed as well after the fighting with Ultron's robots. Bruce dusted off some dust from a counter and grabbed two of the unharmed plates while Maria went to search for some food in the fridge. She managed to find some ham and turkey and placed it next to the plates Bruce had laid out for them. Bruce himself was looking through the cupboards by then, though seeing as most of them were ruined, there wasn't a lot of searching to do.

"There isn't any bread," said Bruce, breaking the silence between the two of them. They had silently agreed to find something to eat for breakfast, though soon found there wasn't much food left that was ruined or squashed.

"Great… well, we've got ham and turkey," sighed Maria, exchanging a look with Bruce before the two of them began to laugh.

"The luxury of being a hero," said Bruce in between laughs as Maria playfully placed slices of turkey and ham on the two plates as though they were going to serve it at a restaurant.

Bruce sat down at the table, dusting off one part of the table and two chairs in the process, watching Maria as she brought the two plates over to him, placing one in front of him.

"C'est voila!" exclaimed Maria. "Bon appétit!"

"We really need to go grocery shopping," chuckled Bruce as Maria sat down opposite of him with her plate of 'food'.

Silently, they began to eat, a smile on Maria's face. For a moment, she felt a strange sensation in her chest, as though she felt guilty or worried about something. Then it hit her, the pain and the sadness of what she had been through the past couple of days. The ring resting neatly against her skin seemed to burn and she suddenly lost her appetite.

Bruce seemed to have noticed her change of demeanor, though he didn't comment on it, only offering her a sympathetic smile that said enough.

As she continued to peck on her food, a question bubbled up inside of her that she didn't want to have, but couldn't resist ask.

"Do you think Steve's okay?"

Bruce looked at her, a slice of ham halfway up to his mouth. His features softened as he looked at her and he slowly placed the ham back down on his plate.

"You're worried."

His statement shouldn't have surprised her. She obviously knew she was, seeing as he was her teammate. Though it still did surprise her as he had literally hurt her quite a lot and those sort of feelings should be going away after something like that. But they didn't. They stayed and even now, now that they weren't a couple and barely even friends, she was still as worried if not more, as before.

"He's Captain America. And he's got Natasha and Clint with him, I think he'll alright," said Bruce, nodding his head.

"Talking about Natasha," began Maria, trying to change the subject as fast as she could. "What's been going on between the two of you lately?"

"Huh? O-Oh. Nothing," replied Bruce, beginning to peck at his food the way Maria was, causing her to slouch slightly.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said quietly, shaking her head. "I shouldn't have asked-"

"You didn't know things weren't working out," said Bruce. "Besides, they never were going to work. The other guy's always going to be a part of me and those sort of… normal-life things aren't a part of my destiny anymore."

"Maybe not," said Maria quietly. "Though it doesn't look like those sorta normal-life things are a part of any of our lives. Have you seen Pepper lately?"

Bruce's face turned into one of realization; "No… I haven't. But surely… I mean… Nah, I'm sure they're fine."

"Tony hasn't talked to you about it then? He hasn't said if anything's wrong?"

"No… No, he hasn't," said Bruce with a shake of his head.

A silence wrapped around them again before Bruce suddenly began to smile again.

"Look at us," he said. "Two sad heroes sitting in a trashed kitchen eating leftover bread spreads."

"I'm pretty sure this wouldn't be a part of the movie, had there been one about our lives," chuckled Maria sadly. "The reality behind the heroes."

Bruce chuckled again, though their casual conversation was cut short as Tony burst into the kitchen.

"They're back!"

* * *

"Clint!" exclaimed Maria, running up to him. She was about to hug him, though thought better of it and simply placed a hand on his shoulder, nodding her head at him. "Where are the others?"

They were standing out on the platform where the Quinjet had landed just seconds ago. Though only Clint had exited the jet.

"Rogers made me come back here with the cradle. Nat's… I think Ultron got her," said Clint, his voice low as he spoke about Natasha.

"Oh God…" mumbled Maria, her worry and her anguish over not having pressed to go with them growing as Clint said this.

"Cradle?" asked Tony, earning a nod of Clint's head, telling them to follow him inside of the Quinjet.

"This here is what Ultron was trying to steal from Cho's lab. It's one of her fancy machines she spoke about back when she was healing me. And apparently, it can create tissue so well, it's creating a body," said Clint as the three heroes followed him onboard, looking at the crate he had been talking about.

It was made out of metal and looked rather much like a coffin. Though the tubes coming out of it clearly made it look like anything but a coffin.

"He wants a body… Just like we thought," breathed Bruce.

"Did Rogers tell us what to do with it?" asked Tony.

"Store it. Destroy it. Anything but make it available to Ultron. Once everyone's gathered again, we can discuss what to do with it and what our next move will be. Tony, you got any intel on our new ally?" said Clint, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I do," said Tony, his eyes not leaving the cradle. "But that's for when everyone's gathered."

"Meaning we need to find Natasha," said Bruce.

"And wait for Steve," said Maria.

"And Thor," added Tony, pointing a finger at Maria. "Wherever the hell he is."

"We can't stick around waiting for Thor too long. If he's out on his own adventures, well, who knows how long that'll take," said Clint.

Tony's finger moved over to Clint; "Good point. Our first move will be to move this cradle, back into the lab. I want to get a closer look on it."

"And our second move?" asked Bruce.

"Find Nat," said Maria and Clint at the same time, causing them to exchange a look.

* * *

With a heavy heart, Maria walked up to the cradle, leaving the laptop she had been working with behind on the desk. She had told everyone she was going to help in the search for Nat, though soon found out (once she sat down in front of the laptop) that she had no clue of how to search for her using that laptop. She wanted to go out there and search for Nat, though seeing as they didn't have a clue of where Ultron's base was, it would be pointless to start a search so global as that one.

Meaning, Maria couldn't do anything. She couldn't help with scanning the cradle, she couldn't help in the search for Nat; how long would she be this useless? She hadn't even been allowed to help search for the cradle. Then again, she didn't have a weapon nor did she have any powers to use against her foes. Perhaps she was indeed useless now.

Clint caught her attention and she watched him for a while as he tried to open the cradle. Just like Maria, Clint didn't know much about scanning and taking scientific tests. So, instead of sitting and waiting, he had taken to trying to pry the lid off. Which wasn't quite working in his favor.

It wasn't until both Bruce and Tony returned back to the cradle that Clint gave up, wiping his forehead and letting out a long sigh, shaking his head.

"Anything on Nat?" asked Bruce, his voice quite monotone though Maria knew better than to believe that.

"I haven't heard. But she's alive, or Ultron would be rubbing our faces in it," said Tony as the two of them walked up to Maria and Clint.

"This is sealed tight," commented Clint.

"We're gonna need to access the program," said Bruce. "Break it down from within."

Tony nodded his head, putting his hands in his pockets before pouting, a thought seeming to have struck him. He turned to face Clint; "Any chance Natasha might leave you a message outside the internet? Old-school spy stuff?"

"There are some nets I can cast," replied Clint, nodding his head. "Yeah, I'll find her."

Maria watched as Clint began to walk away; noticing how Tony looked over at her.

"You wanna go watch, see what he's doing and learn?" asked Tony, raising an eyebrow at her.

Maria realized he was trying to get rid of her and Clint. At the same time, Natasha was going to need to be found. Though Maria knew that if she was looking over Clint's shoulder, distracting him with her questions and annoying him with her presence while he was trying to find his partner; things wouldn't be progressing. Though at the same time, Maria wanted to know what Tony wanted to discuss with Bruce. And as she looked over at Bruce, he seemed to have understood what was going on as well.

"Sure," said Maria simply, walking towards the door.

However, instead of continuing down the hallway, she stopped by the doorway, placing one of her daggers in the doorway so that the door wouldn't shut completely. That way, Tony and Bruce didn't see her standing there, eavesdropping, though she could still hear them talk.

"I can work on tissue-degeneration if you could fry whatever operational system Cho implanted," she heard Bruce say.

"Yeah, about that…" Tony's voice rang.

There was a moment of silence in which she figured Bruce looking at Tony with that cute, dawning look of his that always made her smile.

"No." She nearly snorted.

"You have to trust me." She nearly snorted again.

"Kind of don't."

"Our ally, the guy protecting the military's nuclear codes, I found him."

Maria's ears perked up. She wondered why he was telling this to Bruce when he, moments earlier, had told them all that he wanted to keep this a secret until _everyone_ was gathered again.

"Hello, Doctor Banner." Maria jaw dropped. She'd recognize that voice anywhere. It was the one who'd so many times had awoken her in the middle of the night because Tony wanted to speak to her about something random he had found out. That was _Jarvis_.

"Ultron didn't go after Jarvis 'cause he was angry. He attacked him because he was scared of what he can do," said Tony's voice. "So Jarvis went underground. Scattered, dumped his memory. But not his protocols. He didn't even know he was in there until I pieced him together."

"So… You want me to help you put Jarvis in this thing?" asked Bruce's voice, making Maria's jaw drop even more.

Tony's first idea had created Ultron. What was Tony thinking creating a life Jarvis when it was so clear that big ideas of his didn't really turn out that great?

"No! Of course not! I wanna help you put Jarvis in this thing."

This time, Maria actually snorted. Quickly, she placed a hand over his mouth, her eyes widening. There was a long pause, though soon, the conversation continued on and Maria could breathe out again. Eavesdropping was bad. If they caught her, they'd not be very happy with her. And she couldn't bare having to deal with more teammates hating her.

"We're out of my field, here. You know bio-organics better than anyone," Tony's voice said.

"And you just assume that Jarvis' operational matrix can beat Ultron's?"

"Jarvis has been beating him from inside without knowing it. This is the opportunity – We can create Ultron's perfect self without the homicidal glitches he thinks are his winning personality."

"No!" exclaimed Maria, throwing the door open and strutting inside with a dangerous look on her face; at least she assumed it was as Tony took a step back at the sight of her. "You're not going to create another Ultron!"

"Not another one! A better one!" retorted Tony, making Maria scoff and look at Bruce with a questioning face – to which Bruce simply looked away, clearly not wanting to be a part of this argument.

"Even if it's a better one, it's still an Ultron! If the first one got so messed up when it was supposed to be a good, piece program that would make our work _way_ easier then it is, imagine what can go wrong if you try again!"

"Maria, you have to understand; fighting fire with fire is the only chance we've got!" said Tony, walking up to her and placing his hands on her upper arms, looking her straight in the eyes. "We're doing the same thing, but removing the glitches. It's like, when developers create a new game and they realize some things are faulty. Nowadays, they send out an update to the people via the internet. Now, we can't do that. But back in the days, they'd make new copies. And that's what we're doing here."

"I believe it's worth a go," said Jarvis, making Maria look over at the orange hologram of Jarvis.

With a sigh, Maria looked over at Bruce; "What do you think of this?"

He paced back and forth a few times before running a hand through his hair; "I'm in a loop! I'm caught in a time loop. This is exactly where it all went wrong-"

"I know," said Tony, letting go of Maria and moving over to Bruce instead. "I know. I know what everyone's gonna say. But… They're already saying it. We're mad scientists."

He clapped Bruce on the arm casually, as though that wasn't in the least a negative thing to be called; especially seeing as that trait caused Ultron.

"We're monsters, buddy. We've gotta own it," said Tony. "Make a stand. It's not a loop. It's the end of the line."

"Oh, don't go all Bucky on the guy," said Maria, earning confused looks from the two scientists. "This is wrong! Don't do it, Bruce! Who knows what'll come out the other end!"

Tony looked back at Bruce, a pleading look on his face. Maria saw Bruce looking between the two of them and she slowly saw him making up his mind. However, she also saw him making the wrong decision.

"Alright then."

* * *

 **The panic of school starting soon has made me procrastinate on life... Literally don't eat because I feel it's a waste of the last bit of summer vacation I have left. I know, I have problems. But I'm getting over that now! Don't worry. Hence why I'm updating too XD**


	24. Chapter 23, Vision

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 23~  
Vision  
**

Maria was sitting in a corner, watching Tony and Bruce work. They had attached multiple machines to the cradle, though she didn't understand a thing they were doing. All she knew about what they were doing, was that their goal was to get Jarvis into whatever was inside that cradle. It was a mad plan. A stupid plan. But she couldn't stop them.

How was she supposed to? They were her teammates. She couldn't exactly attack them. And even if she did, would she win? Bruce could turn and Tony was the Iron Man. There was no way that she, without any weapons, could take on either of them. Even with weapons, Maria doubted she could win.

"This is madness," said Maria, shaking her head. Her leg was bobbing up and down nervously and her heart was beating fast.

"Yeah, we heard you the first couple of times," commented Tony absentmindedly.

"You realize this could go horribly wrong, right?" asked Maria. "The others won't like this."

"How do you know?" asked Tony with a sigh, turning to look at her.

"Because – Well, I don't like it."

Tony rolled his eyes, turning back to what he was doing on the computer screen. She sighed, shaking her head again and contemplated on whether she should run away, hide and pretend like she hadn't been a part of this. Pretend like she hadn't cowered and not done anything to stop this. After all, if anything did go wrong, all the blame would be on her as she hadn't stopped them.

Her heart beat even faster at that thought.

"This frame-work is not compatible," said Tony.

"The genetic coding tower is at 97%," said Bruce from where he was standing on the other side of the cradle. "You have got to upload that schematic in the next three minutes."

"97%?" asked Maria, standing up and walking over to Bruce. "Does that mean it's nearly done? Oh God… This isn't good. You need to stop."

"I would do as she says."

The voice startled all three of them. Maria instantly recognized it and didn't have to look up to know that Steve had walked in on them. Though she still did and what she saw, shocked her more than what Bruce and Tony were doing.

There, behind Steve, stood the Maximoff twins. Though they weren't alone. No, standing beside them with an arrogant look on his face as though he had been right about something, was Maria's father; Erik Dalton. He still wore the same clothes as he had the last time they had met and he was clutching the gun fastened to his leather belt tightly.

"Hey pumpkin," said Erik sarcastically.

A surge of rage rushed through Maria at his words.

"I'm gonna say this once-" began Steve, though was cut off by Tony's words.

"How about 'none-ce'?" commented Tony sarcastically.

"Shut it down!" exclaimed Steve, Maria taking a step away from the cradle, beginning to round it to where Steve was standing, to show that she was on Steve's side on this.

"Nope, not gonna happen," said Tony with a shake of his head.

"You don't know what you're doing," said Steve.

"And you do?"

"Bruce," warned Maria. "You were against this at first too!"

"Yes, I was. But at least I haven't gone over to their side," said Bruce, gesturing towards the Maximoff twins and Erik. "Are you sure she's not in his head, scrambling about and controlling him?"

Maria was at a loss for words, turning to look at Steve and the others.

"I know you're angry," began Wanda, taking a step forwards.

"Oh, we're way past that," said Bruce. "I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade."

"Bruce," began Maria, though at the look he threw her, she shut up and backed away from him, finding herself, just like old times, next to Steve.

"Banner, after everything that's happened-" began Steve.

"It's nothing compared to what's coming!" argued Tony, cheekily continuing his work without anyone noticing.

"You don't know what's in there!" exclaimed Wanda.

"Perhaps you should listen to what Miss Maximoff has to say before you go making decisions that are not yours to make on your own," said Erik, crossing his arms over his chest. "Because, you are a team, right? I haven't missed anything?"

The sound of panic in Wanda's voice made Maria think there was something she knew that the others didn't. Perhaps she had informed Steve, Pietro and Erik before they came to stop Tony, but it was that little sound of panic that made Maria realize she should've interfered earlier and used more force. Albeit Maria didn't like Wanda; she was the reason she and Steve were no more after all, this was not about personal feelings. This was about saving the world and Maria couldn't help but think that Bruce, out of the two science brothers, hadn't quite realized this and let his rage control him (which was way out of character for Bruce).

In a flash, all the tubes were suddenly unattached to the cradle again. An alarm was bleeping on the computer screens and Pietro was now standing in front of it.

"No, no, go on, you were saying," said Pietro sarcastically, earning a chuckle from Erik.

The sound of glass breaking was heard before Maria saw what had caused it. And it wasn't until Pietro went tumbling down through the glass floor that Maria realized someone – Clint – had shot through the glass, breaking it so that Pietro fell down.

Wanda exclaimed her brother's name as she ran over to the broken floor, though Maria stopped her, knowing that the tension in the room was about to explode. Her hand held a tight grip on Wanda's arm and the tension that was obviously there between the two women, caused them to glare at each other.

"I'm re-routing the upload," said Tony, causing both women to look away from each other and up to him.

Before, however, Tony could even begin to touch the computers, Steve had thrown his shield around so that it broke every computer screen in the room. In return, Tony summoned his suit, shooting a beam at Steve which made him fly backwards into Erik, knocking them both down to the floor.

"Stay focused," said Maria to Wanda, letting go of her arm.

Quickly, Maria shook off her cardigan and grabbed her daggers, readying herself. Though she got distracted by Bruce grabbing Wanda from behind, holding her tightly so she couldn't move or help Maria.

Slowly, Maria looked back at Tony, her eyes wide. This was exactly what she had feared to begin with. Quickly, and without blinking, Tony shot a beam at her. In surprise and all out shock of what she was supposed to do, she let go of her daggers and raised her hands. She squealed, thinking she was about to get hit and thrown backwards like Steve. Though, suddenly, the beam decided to go around her instead, hitting the wall behind her.

"Wow…" she breathed in surprise.

Tony was about to shoot again, though two things kept him from hitting her. One, Steve attacked him, jumping onto him and distracting him. Two, Erik grabbed her and pulled her down behind cover before she could react. She quickly realized he must've used his powers to make sure Tony didn't hit her.

"Nice reflexes," he said, confusing her.

Wanda had broken free from Bruce, Tony and Steve had knocked each other to the floor again and Clint was evidently quite confused as to which side he was on. As Erik and Maria, momentarily forgetting about the tension between the two of them, peeked out behind their cover, they saw Thor arrive in the room. Though he didn't attack anyone. He went straight for the cradle, jumped up on it, and summoned lightning down into it.

Once the blinding light disappeared, a couple seconds of silence followed, before the cradle's upper part suddenly was torn open, throwing Thor off the cradle. Out of it, covered in mist and bringing an eerie feeling into the room, came a pink man.

Now, it might've seemed strange to most people. Though the Avengers had seen enough to not question what he was but instead question whether he was kind or not. On the pink man's forehead, a yellow gem sparkled as he opened his eyes. Much to Maria's discomfort, the man was naked as well.

He stood up, seeming rather confused and surprised as he looked down at his hand, moving his fingers as though to see what they were. It took a little while before he realized people were in the room with him. His eyes overlooked each and every one of them, an uncomfortable feeling taking over Maria when he looked at her, still crouched down behind cover only her head peeking out to look back at the man. It was as though he had all the information in the world about her, his eyes simply scanning her to see whether or not she was Maria Dalton.

It was when the pink man's eyes landed on Thor that he attacked. Thor seemed to have been ready though, as he easily dodged the man and threw him over towards the windows overlooking Midtown.

Everyone followed the man, standing up to get a better look on him as he seemed to hover in front of the windows, looking at the city's beauty under the full moon's light.

Thor raised his hand, gesturing to everyone not to engage him.

Maria was still standing next to her father when the pink man turned around in mid-air, slowly and without the hostile look in his eyes. Clothes appeared on him; a green, tight suit, and Maria noticed Thor placing his hammer down on a nearby table in order to show the pink man that none of them were hostiles.

Worry latched onto Maria's heart; she knew that it was now or never. If this pink, probably powerful man, turned out to not be on their side, they were doomed.

He slowly hovered over to Thor, who approached the man carefully. The rest of the team stayed back a little, watching with curious and careful eyes as the scene unfolded.

"I am sorry," said the pink man in what unmistakably was Jarvis' voice, landing beside Thor. "That was… odd."

He looked at Thor; "Thank you."

Thor didn't respond, though he did let out a sigh of relief; most likely, he had understood what little chances they had at having the pink man being on their side. A thought seemed to occur to the pink man and suddenly, a cape appeared hanging from his back; resembling Thor's.

In a way, Maria thought the gesture was rather cute.

"Thor, you helped create this?" asked Steve.

"I've had a vision," replied Thor with a nod. "A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life, and at its center is that."

Thor pointed towards the yellow gem stuck to the pink man's forehead.

"What? The gem?" asked Bruce.

"It's the Mind Stone," explained Thor. "It's one of the six Infinity Stones. The greatest power in the universe unparalleled in its destructive capabilities."

"The universe? Oh God… Not another big thing about aliens," mumbled Maria, earning a look from Erik who was probably the only one, apart from the ones in the room with super-hearing (Thor, the pink man and Steve), to have heard her.

"Then why would you bring-" started Steve.

"Stark is right," interrupted Thor.

"Oh, it's definitely the end times," commented Bruce sarcastically, referring to what Thor had said.

"The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron," said Thor, a heavy, worried feeling appearing in Maria's stomach at his words.

"Not alone," added the pink man.

"Why does your – uh – _Vision_ sound like Jarvis?" asked Steve.

"We reconfigured Jarvis' matrix to create something new," said Tony, the Avengers now beginning to inspect the pink man up close, walking around him just like he was walking around them with curious eyes.

"I think I've had my fill of new," commented Steve, Maria silently agreeing as the pink man rounded her.

"You think I'm a child of Ultron," said the pink man.

"You're not?" asked Steve.

"I'm not Ultron. I am not Jarvis. I am…" he trailed off.

Maria thought for a while he meant that he didn't know who he was yet. Then again, it could also have meant that he just was. He existed and that was it. He wasn't something, he was something new after all, like Tony had said. Though she couldn't help but butt in anyway.

"Vision," said Maria with a smile. "You're Vision."

He tilted his head to the side, watching her, his eyes faltering down to her lips which were still curled up into a smile. A couple seconds later, he mimicked her smile and nodded his head.

"I looked in your head-" said Wanda, stepping forwards. "-and saw annihilation."

"Look again," replied Vision.

"Her seal of approval means jack to me," chuckled Clint, referring to the clear tension that was still obvious between the Maximoff twins, Erik and the Avengers due to what had happened between them earlier that week.

"Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself; they all came from the Mind Stone," said Thor, earning a furrowed brow from Maria and several of the others in the room. "And they're nothing compared to what it can unleash. But with it on our side-"

"Is it?" asked Steve before turning his head to Vision. "Are you? On our side?"

"I don't think it's that simple," replied Vision.

"Well, it better get real simple real soon," said Clint, earning a look from Maria and Steve.

"I am on the side of life," replied Vision. "Ultron isn't. He will end it all."

"What's he waiting for?" asked Tony.

"You."

"Where?" asked Maria.

"Sokovia," replied Clint, earning looks from everyone in the room to which he rolled his eyes. "He's got Nat there, that's how I know."

"If we're wrong about you, if you're the monster that Ultron made you to be," said Bruce as he approached Vision, a dangerous look on his face that surprised Maria.

"What will you do?" asked Vision.

There was a silence. Maria didn't quite understand if this silence from Bruce meant that he was most certainly going to Hulk out and kill Vision, or if he didn't quite know what he would do. Either way, the already existing tension because of the uninvited guests Steve brought along became heavier and Maria had the urge to start slicing the air to prove to everyone just how thick the tension was.

"I don't want to kill Ultron," began Vision, walking past Bruce again and looking back out through the windows overseeing Midtown. "He's unique and he's in pain. But that pain will roll over the Earth. So he must be destroyed. Every form he's built, every trace of his presence on the net. We have to act now. And not one of us can do it without the others."

As he said this last part, he turned towards the Maximoff twins and Erik, clearly showing to the Avengers in the room that they were going to have to suck up their irritation towards them because they were needed in this war. Maria felt very uncomfortable with this. Pietro seemed like someone who didn't quite talk to other people but his sister. Wanda was someone Maria had a real grudge against. And her father, well, to say she had a grudge against him too would be too kind.

Though it was going to have to be. They were going to work together to save the world, and Maria would simply have to swallow whatever grudges she had to save the world.

"Maybe I am a monster," continued Vision. "I don't think I'd know if I were one. I'm not what you are, and not what you intended. So there may be no way to make you trust me. But we need to go."

The strangest of things happened then. Vision turned back to Thor and held out to him, the most shocking object ever.

Mjölnir.

Vision was _holding_ Mjölnir, just like that. Nobody else had been able to - apart from Steve and Maria together though they didn't talk about that - of the teammates. And now, Vision was standing there, holding out Mjölnir to Thor as though it were the most casual thing in the universe to do.

He was worthy of Mjölnir. It had been the only action needed to convince everyone that Vision could be trusted.

Thor took Mjölnir from Vision's grasp with a startled look on his face. And as Vision walked away from them all, Thor looked even more shocked than he had done at first. Maria couldn't help but smirk slightly.


	25. Chapter 24, The Flight to Sokovia

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 24~  
The Flight To Sokovia**

Steve had given them all three minutes to get ready for the flight to Sokovia where the last stand against Ultron would take place. It was now well past midnight and although everyone was tired, they couldn't, just like Vision had said, wait any longer. This was it, the time had come for them to take the fight to Ultron and end it once and for all. Either the world was going to end, or the world would be saved.

Not to mention they needed to save Natasha as soon as possible.

Maria found herself getting ready along with her father. It was strange how the possibility of the end of the world changed the way people interacted with each other. Suddenly, Maria was alright with Erik – a Hydra agent and the father she hated - being there. She also felt a certain comfort in having him there; someone on the team that she felt wanted her there. After all, both Bruce and Tony had had different ideas about the cradle and although it turned out they had been right (a little thanks to Thor), there was still a strange tension between them and her. Clint was worried about Nat and didn't seem to want anyone near him. Steve and Maria obviously stayed away from each other. The twins were getting ready together; preparing themselves with some old clothes Tony had found lying about in the tower and didn't seem too interested in talking to Maria. And Thor and Vision were off chatting, apparently not needing to get ready like the others.

"Here," said Erik, interrupting Maria's thoughts. "Take this."

He offered her a pistol. Though she scrunched up her nose to it, shaking her head, instead turning away from him and pulling her hair back up in a ponytail.

"What, are you going to fight an army of metal men with your petit daggers?" asked Erik. "I thought Artur gave you a sword?"

"Yeah, I threw it away after he died," said Maria coldly. "I don't kill people anymore."

"These aren't people," said Erik, shoving the gun into her hand. "Don't be stupid."

She scoffed, looking down at the gun before placing it in her belt.

"You said earlier that I had good reflexes… Why?" asked Maria hastily as Erik was about to turn and leave, not having changed his outfit into something that fitted the situation better.

"'Cause you got good reflexes. Why else?" he replied, furrowing his brow.

"But I didn't do anything."

"You saved your own skin, didn't you? Made that beam fly right past you," he said, tilting his head to the side as he saw her reaction. "You don't know? You don't remember what I taught you?"

"Taught me?"

"We're leaving," said Steve as he walked past them.

"Come on," sighed Erik, beginning to follow Steve. "You hold on tight to that gun. I like it and I want it back."

* * *

Maria lay down on a bed so soft it relaxed her entire body just to lay on it. Everything felt warm and fluffy. The room she was in was bright, so bright that she couldn't see the walls or furniture that existed in the room. All she saw when she looked away from the bed or herself, was a bright, white light.

A hand suddenly softly touched her cheek and she looked over to the right. Steve lay there, smiling over at her. He was propped up on one arm and the bright light made it hard to look at him. Though she tried and saw all the features she loved about him. The lovely, soft smile that melted her heart and made everything better; the beautiful blue eyes that made her feel comfortable about her surroundings; and the dirty blonde hair, slightly messy after a long night of kisses and intimacy.

Right where she lay now, next to Steve, was where she wanted to stay the rest of her life. It was comforting, warm and perfect.

The smile suddenly disappeared from Steve's lips and his eyes looked over Maria to something behind her. She frowned and turned around, feeling Steve's hand protectively grasping her waist.

A gasp escaped Maria as she saw Professor Xavier sitting in his wheelchair next to her bed. He looked serious and slightly surprised that she had noticed him. Though the shock of seeing him there next to their bed when Maria realized that neither of them were wearing a lot of clothes; made her wake up.

Her arms flailed slightly as she awoke, startled, from her dream. She soon recovered though, relieved that nobody had seen her awaken. She was still with the team in the Quinjet, on their way to Sokovia to end Ultron once and for all. Erik was seated next to her, cleaning the pistol he was going to use during the battle. He glanced over at her once, one end of his mouth twitching up in a soft smile before he continued to work on his pistol.

Tony and Clint were both seated at the front, talking quietly to each other. Bruce was seated far away from the Maximoff twins who both were seated next to Erik. As Maria caught Bruce's eye, he quickly looked away again. She knew he was annoyed at her for having been against him and Tony earlier, and she knew he was angry about what Wanda had done to him, causing him to hulk out and damage his reputation. Apparently, seeing Maria interact with Wanda's friend, Erik, made Maria the enemy as well.

Thor and Vision were sitting next to each other, not talking. Steve was on his own a bit away from Thor and Vision, on the opposite side of the ship. Her heart hurt as she looked at him though there was a strange force pulling her towards him. Perhaps it was the fact that she missed him or maybe it was the fact that the look on his face, that serious and concerned look he had, made her worried.

Careful not to draw too much attention to herself, which was hard seeing as she was on her way to _Steve_ and everyone knew what had happened between them, she moved over to him and sat down next to him. She had expected a surprised look from him, or even an annoyed one. Though all he did, was turn his head towards her, his eyes slightly wide, before he began to whisper to her.

"Remember when we met up with Zola? Back when we were still trying to figure out what was going on inside of SHIELD?"

"Uh, yeah," answered Maria quietly, quite shocked about his way of suddenly talking to her like normal, his face so close to hers again.

"Remember when we saw Howard Stark's face?" he asked in a whisper. "When Zola was showing us everything Hydra had done in secret?"

Maria furrowed her brow, bringing forth the memories of that scene from the back of her mind. She remembered the giant computer, the strange face of what used to be Zola, a hydra scientist, projected on the screen, and how he had showed to them files of what Hydra had managed to do underneath of their noses. She also still remembered how she had felt her heart sink at the sight of Fury's file back there and, indeed, the face of Howard Stark had also been amongst those things that Zola showed to them. Was there a connection she had missed that Steve just now had come up with?

"Yes…" breathed Maria, nodding her head. "Hydra killed him."

The both of them looked over at the front to where Tony was sitting, his back turned towards them.

"Fury's file was amongst them. And everything they did, almost everything, was with the help of the Winter Soldier," whispered Steve, making Maria nod her head again.

"Yes, with Bucky, I remember," whispered Maria, beginning to feel impatient to what Steve had figured out.

"Don't you get it?"

"What?" asked Maria, suddenly feeling her mind stop working as she once again realized how close Steve's face was to hers.

"Bucky killed _him_ …"

The words resonated in her head a couple of times before her mind was drawn away from Steve's handsome face and back to their conversation. Her heart skipped a beat as she suddenly realized, that Bucky – or the Winter Soldier - indeed could've been the one to kill Howard Stark, Tony's father. Meaning, if Tony ever figured this out, and Bucky would ever be found again, all hell would break loose.

"Oh God," whispered Maria, once again glancing over at the back of Tony. "Have you found him? Have you found Bucky yet?"

"No… But I'm worried," whispered Steve, also glancing over at Tony again. "I'm worried that the truth may come out."

"We're not sure if this is the truth. For all we know, Hydra could've had other ways to kill off their enemies," she replied quietly before her brow was furrowed, another thought striking her. "I think the question should be; why?"

"He was one of the founders of SHIELD," replied Steve. "Maybe they needed a Hydra agent to be on the board."

"I highly doubt they didn't already have one," replied Maria darkly. "No… I think there's something else behind it."

"Sokovia's five minutes away. Get ready, guys," said Tony, turning around in his chair at the front.

"Whatever the reason was," whispered Steve, grabbing his shield and checking the straps on the back of it, making sure they were tight enough. "I have a feeling it's going to come back and bite us."

Maria grabbed her gun, suddenly feeling sad about the fact that this conversation was over and that Steve now would continue to avoid her. Though the fact that he had simply told her without her having to urge him to tell her, was a good thing. Perhaps he was beginning to see the fault in the decision he made and wanted her back as more than just a teammate. Then again, what were the odds for that?

"Whatever'll happen, know I'll be by your side," said Maria. "Whatever relationship we have."

Steve swiftly looked over at her, pausing slightly. It looked almost as though he had, momentarily, forgotten about their break-up. It wasn't until his eyes flickered down to the engagement ring around her neck, which had accidentally fallen out from underneath of her suit, that realization dawned on him again.

"Maria-"

"Maria," interrupted Erik, handing her a couple of extra magazines of ammo. "You'll need it. From what I could tell when I was still buddies with Ultron, he's got a lot of robots on his side."

"How'd he make them all?" asked Steve, earning a shrug from Erik.

"Don't know, but they're a lot," said Erik simply.

"Speaking of Ultron," started Maria. "I never asked why you decided to come with Steve?"

Erik spared a glance with Steve before looking back at her again; "Hydra wants to take over the world, form it according to our way of living. Ultron wants to destroy it and leave nothing for Hydra. I can't exactly have that. Besides, my daughter-"

"Quit the crap about you giving a damn about me," said Maria irritably, anger flaring inside of her. "You're a part of Hydra. And after all this, you'll go to jail. Nothing's changed between us just because of this."

"Whatever you say," said Erik smugly, raising his hands, earning a glare from Maria in return.

The ship jolted, nearly making Erik fall over from where he was standing up in front of Maria. Everyone looked over at Tony, wondering what happened. It wasn't until Tony looked back at them all with a guilty look on his face, that Maria's worry about being thrown into a fight with Ultron vanished.

"Sorry, I really am no good landing this thing without Jarvis," he said innocently.

"Everyone ready?" asked Steve, standing up. "Good. 'Cause we're not getting a second chance after this."

* * *

 **It's a bit short, but I had some problems opening my document where I've got everything saved. I solved it, I think, but it did mean that I didn't have much time to write more. Sorry. The good thing is, next week, the fighting will start! Which I'm pretty hyped about writing, if I may be honest.**


	26. Chapter 25, The Last Stand Part 1

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 25~  
The Last Stand Part 1**

"No way we'll all get through this," said Tony, putting on his Iron Man helmet while the team made their way out of the Quinjet, coming out into an open clearing in the woods close by the city. "If even one tin soldier is left standing, we've lost. There's gonna be blood on the floor."

The sun was starting to rise, a faint, orange light falling down on the Avengers as they walked in a quick pace through the woods.

"I've got no plans tomorrow night," said Steve lightly, earning a scoff from Erik.

"Well, I do," he muttered, earning a glance from Maria who was walking next to him.

"I get first crack at the big guy," said Tony. "Iron Man's the one he's waiting for."

"That's true," said Vision from next to Thor. "He hates you the most."

Maria and Erik smirked.

"Alright, Avengers," said Steve, coming to a halt at the end of the woods where the path they had been walking on separated into two. "Ultron knows we're coming. Odds are we'll be riding into heavy fire. And that's what we signed up for. But the people of Sokovia didn't. So our priority is getting them out. Everyone uses whatever resources they got to clear the city as fast as possible."

"The majority of people are going to be at home," said Wanda with a look at the rising sun.

"Meaning we go through the houses and the apartments first," suggested Pietro.

"We still need to get help. We can't do this on our own. The people need to be alerted and the police and military can do that for us," said Steve.

"I'll alert them," said Pietro with a nod of his head.

"Good. We find out what Ultron's been building to destroy the Earth, which is what he wants. We find Romanoff-"

"I can do that," interrupted Bruce, earning a look from Steve who nodded his head before continuing.

"We need to keep the fight between us. No civilians should get hurt," said Steve. "Ultron thinks we're monsters. That we're what's wrong with the world. This isn't just about beating him. It's about whether he's right."

The team all nodded.

"Go," commanded Steve, the team watching for a minute in silence as Bruce jogged away from them on the path leading to the left towards the facility that once belonged to Baron von Strucker, the facility where Ultron, according to Clint, was keeping Natasha.

"Last time we fought together," started Maria, earning the attention from everyone. "We weren't really coordinated in the beginning."

"So, let's be coordinated from the beginning this time," said Steve with a nod, his eyes staying on Maria a little longer than needed which warmed up her heart both with love and grieve. "Tony, like you said, Ultron will be after you. I want only you, Vision and Thor to get into direct combat with him. He's too dangerous for the rest of us."

"Ultron's little toy-" said Clint, holding a strong grip on his bow. "What do we do about it?"

"We need to know what it is first," said Erik.

"I'll check it out while you all get the civilians to safety," said Tony with a nod of his head, his helmet closing over his face, the arc reactor sustaining energy to his suit lightning up a bit brighter as he did so.

"Sounds like a plan," said Steve, beginning to lead the team down the path to the right.

"I'll keep you all briefed on what I find," said Tony before he flew off towards the city ahead of the others, Vision and Thor behind him.

For several hours, the Avengers, the Maximoff twins and Erik worked efficiently on getting the civilians out. Wanda used her powers to mind-control the people in the East to get to safety. Pietro managed to alert the military and police, who now were helping all over Sokovia to get people out of the city. Clint, Maria, Steve and Erik all did what they could to help in the beginning albeit it had been hard since many of the people in Sokovia didn't want their help, them being Avengers and the people thinking America had repressed them.

At one point, Maria and Clint had reached an apartment where a family with two little boys were eating breakfast. Calmly, the two of them had told the family what was going on and that the city was getting evacuated. After having convinced the parents, this only after a quite heated discussion, the two boys passed Maria and Clint by. They both smiled at them, though the only thing they got back were glares. The older boy even spit on the floor in front of their boots, surprising them both.

Soon however, the military and the police had it all under control and the people were slowly evacuating without only the Avengers' help.

People were walking in a slow pace through the streets and from where Erik and Maria were standing, up high in a building already evacuated, Maria couldn't help but think it looked an awful lot like slow ants making their way through their colony.

 _"This isn't going fast enough,"_ said Steve worriedly through the com from where he was directing the people away from the city. _"I don't know how much time we have left."_

The sun had already fully risen, now casting a warming light on them all. Though the warming light still felt cold because of what Maria knew was coming. She already was completely drained from the lack of sleep as of lately and Maria wanted nothing more but the battle to already be over. So she could go and tuck herself into a bed and just sleep for several days underneath soft and safe covers.

"We can't push them to walk fast. It'll worry them too much," said Maria through the com.

 _"The majority of people are already out,"_ said Tony's voice.

Erik made a noise of sudden realization, making Maria look over at him with a raised eyebrow.

 _"How are things going with Ultron?"_ asked Steve's voice.

 _"There's something weird showing up on my scans. But I haven't pinpointed either him or what it is."_

 _"Perhaps the man of metal thought better and ran away!"_ said Thor's voice.

 _"I highly doubt it,"_ came the voice from Wanda.

"Wanda, Pietro. Do you remember what Ultron said the day we all met?" asked Erik, unnecessarily pressing his finger against the earpiece inside of his ear. "About the church being in the center of the entire city?"

 _"Yes, I remember,"_ came Pietro's slightly out of breath voice.

"He didn't say a lot about it. But he still said it. How every man would be close to God due to the church being there," said Erik, Maria watching him with intrigued eyes. "If Ultron thinks he can destroy us and create a new world… What does he see himself as?"

 _"A God. Tony, check the church,"_ said Steve's voice.

 _"On my way."_

"That wasn't bad," said Maria, making her father look over at her.

"You sound surprised," he said cockily, raising an eyebrow.

"Gee, I wonder why," she replied sarcastically. "Oh, maybe because all you've ever done is make bad decisions that ruin other people's lives so I'm a bit confused still as to why you're suddenly helping them."

"I've never done anything to ever ruin lives," replied Erik sternly. "You just haven't seen the bigger picture of it yet."

"Yeah, right-"

She was cut off by Erik pushing her against the wall, holding her in position tightly as his face came close to hers, an angry scowl on his face. "Don't speak of things you don't know shit about," he growled quietly.

Fear mixed with anger made Maria push him off her, glaring equally as angrily back at him.

"I know you left us for Hydra. I know you've tried to clone me, probably because I wasn't the daughter you wanted. I know you drove mum into hurting me because, unfortunately, I look like you. So tell me again what picture I don't get."

"You've got everything wrong-" he started, his scowl suddenly gone.

Though Erik was interrupted by the ground suddenly beginning to shake. It wasn't much in the beginning and Maria and Erik both assumed it was a simple earthquake at first. Though nothing was ever simple when it came to the lives of the Avengers and soon, the shaking turned into a single violent jolt that caused both Erik and Maria to fall to the ground.

Immediately, Maria jumped up again, looking out over the railing of the balcony they were standing on, overlooking the city. She saw a crack in the ground that separated the center and some parts around it from the rest of the city and worry latched onto her heart. From up where she was, quite far away from the circular crack itself, it looked small. Though she doubted it actually was seeing as she heard screams from the people of Sokovia; not everyone had made it out in time.

"What the hell…" breathed Erik as he joined her by the railing.

"Come on," she said as she led him down the stairs and out into the street, beginning to jog towards the closest part of the crack, taking out her pistol as she heard the sounds of a fight.

With Erik by her sight, she regrouped with Wanda, Pietro, Clint and Steve who were all fighting against Ultron's metal suits which were crawling quite creepily out from the deep, deep crack. Some of the civilians who had been trying to make their way over a bridge, the last civilians, were standing a little off from the fight, hugging their loved ones and watching with worried and scared eyes as the Avengers fought the suits off. Maria made her way over to the civilians, ushering them into a nearby store that was large enough to hold them all without any problem. In there, they'd be safer than out in the open.

As she exited the store, satisfied the civilians were as safe as they could be at the moment, she joined the fight, shooting several suits in the head with the pistol her father had given her. To her surprise, the seemingly normal pistol didn't use bullets. Instead, it shot a kinetic ball against her targets, making whatever part she hit explode. Slightly distracted by this surprise, Maria didn't notice one of the suits sneaking up on her from behind and she ended up on the dusty ground.

The suit turned her over, holding her hand with the pistol down against the ground as it lifted its other hand above her head, a light appeared in its hand through which she knew a killing beam was going to come and in her panicked state, her free hand went up to hit its face, hoping to distract it or unbalance it in some way. Though, the most surprising of all things happened instead.

The suit was pushed, by a seemingly invisible force, up several meters into the air. Shocked as to what had happened, Maria reacted a little too late and shot the suit on its way down. Though the dead suit landed on her, knocking the air out of her lungs.

Two hands lifted the suit off of her before helping her to stand back up. She coughed slightly, holding onto the strong arm next to her as she recovered from the hit.

"What was that?" asked Steve's voice from next to her and she realized it was he who had helped her up.

"I don't know…" she replied vaguely, still holding onto his arm as she turned her head to look at the dead suit.

"Why, your powers of course," said Erik simply, stomping down on a suit that was trying to crawl away from him. "Honestly, don't you remember a thing I taught you back in the days?"

"I-I don't understand," said Maria, shaking her head.

Erik rolled his eyes, the momentary pause in attacks from the suits making the others look at her too. Lifting his hand up, debris from fallen suits lifted up into the air. It was no surprise to them that he had this power. He had demonstrated this shortly the very first time the Avengers met up with him, though that time he had only made small things fly out of people's hands. This time, he demonstrated a different side of his powers as more debris from suits lifted up into the air, the metal bending at his will and touching other parts until it formed a perfect sculpture of Maria's mother smiling softly over at her and Steve.

"Remember when I said we've got the same powers," said Erik, his hand still up in the air. "Well, I can't just heal quickly."

"Impossible," breathed Maria. "Why haven't I been able to do it before then?"

"You have," said Erik sadly as he slowly lowered his hand, the sculpture breaking and the debris falling down to the ground again. "You've just… forgotten somehow. As a child you could do the most amazing things with your powers. You used to make your dolls walk around as if someone else was playing with you. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen… You were so strong. But then, things happened. I left and… you suddenly didn't remember it anymore. Why don't you remember it the way I do?"

"I… I don't know," breathed Maria, her hold on Steve's arm tightening.

From beside her, Steve wrapped a protective arm around Maria's waist; "I don't think now is the best time to talk about this. We need to focus on the mission."

Erik looked at Steve with a monotone look on his face before he nodded his head. He opened his mouth to say something else when suddenly, the ground gave another lurch. Had it not been for Steve's good balance and his arm around her waist, Maria would've fallen again. For some reason, during each big battle, Maria always ended up on the floor a lot of times.

She hated it.

Instinctively, Maria grabbed Steve's hand, her heart warming up and her courage rising as he squeezed her hand back, the two of them running over to the bridge which was dividing into two. It didn't take long for them all to understand that the ground they were standing on was ascending up into the air. The crack had formed a circle around the center of the city. And now, that center was flying, at quite a high velocity, up in the air.

"Oh, this is bad," said Clint from next to Maria, who grabbed his arm as the ground shook slightly; afraid they'd topple over the edge as they stood way too close to it.

"Great," said Pietro gloomily. "I don't like heights."


	27. Chapter 26, The Last Stand Part 2

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 26~  
The Last Stand Part 2**

 _"Do you see… The beauty in it? The inevitability. You rise, only to fall. You, Avengers, are my meteor. My swift and terrible sword. And the earth will crack with the weight of your failure. Purge me from your computers, turn my own flesh against me. It means nothing. When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world… will be metal."_

"Erik, go with Clint and Wanda, fight off Ultron as best as possible around the rest of the rock. Pietro, be everywhere," ordered Steve. "Fight Ultron's men as best as possible. We need to make sure Tony has enough space to figure out what to do."

Said people nodded their heads, making their way away from Steve and Maria.

"Maria, you and I stay on this side of the rock, fight Ultron's robots here as best as possible…" said Steve, his sentence fading off as he saw the next wave of robots making their way towards them. "You ready?"

"Not really," said Maria, her head still fuzzy after what her father had just told her.

"Hey, look at me," said Steve, Maria immediately looking over at him. "You need to focus on the battle now. Okay? I can't do this without you."

They were still standing by the edge of the rock, now facing each other. The next wave of robots was coming in closer and closer, flying towards them at a great speed. Though neither of them paid attention to them at the moment, the both of them staring at each other.

"Neither can I," said Maria quietly.

A part of her was referring to the battle. A part of her was referring to her life in general. And a part of her was referring to the new abilities her father had just told her about, which she was going to have to begin to comprehend at some point after this battle. It was a new journey for her which she was rather afraid of. She had never had powers like that, after all.

"You haven't lost me," said Steve seriously, placing his free hand on her upper arm, the other hand holding a tight grip onto his shield.

"Haven't I?" she asked, once again in a quiet voice.

Steve's eyebrow twitched slightly and he took a deep breath. He was about to answer, when Tony's voice cut him off.

 _"Hate to disturb you guys, but, Cap and Dalton, you got incoming."_

Tony's voice made the both of them look over at the next wave of robots they had both forgotten to keep an eye on. And as they turned their heads, two robots attacked them, sending them both flying. Steve landed on a car with a groan while Maria landed on the ground, sliding on the dirt a couple of meters, unfortunately ripping a piece of her suit open over her hip.

"Got it," groaned Steve in reply to Tony's transmission.

She hissed at the burning pain, shooting the robot that had attacked her in the face before shifting to take a look on her wound. Within two seconds, the wound on her hip was healed, leaving only a rip in her suit, and she was back up on her feet, fighting robots a little away from the edge where Steve was fighting.

At one point, Maria was suddenly overwhelmed by the number of robots that attacked her. One pushed her down onto the ground, while two others grabbed her gun and aimed their own weapons at her. She widened her eyes, knowing what were to come would hurt, though she was saved by the Hulk landing next to her, grabbing the three robots and tearing them apart.

He roared loudly before looking down at her. His usually angry eyes softened slightly and she quickly stood up, brushing off her suit and grabbing her gun.

"Nat?" asked Maria, looking up at the Hulk with wide eyes.

He nodded his head, to which she smiled a relieved smile.

"Good job," praised Maria before the Hulk smirked and ran off, taking out more of the robots in his way.

Stray civilians were running away from the scene and into the store where Maria had ushered the other civilians. It was pure chaos where they were currently fighting. Though Maria was relieved to see Thor and Natasha had joined them by now.

She quickly made her way over to Natasha, avoiding robots' attacks and shooting a couple people.

"You okay?" asked Maria.

"Always," replied Natasha with a smirk, the fight immediately continuing.

Continuing to shoot robots, the fight went on. At one point, Maria's gun ran out of bullets when she needed to shoot a robot that was headed her way in a very high velocity. She fumbled for too long when reloading and was too late with shooting the robot. Had it not been for Thor taking care of the robot, Maria's body would've had more healing to do.

 _"We're all clear here,"_ said Clint's voice over the com.

"We are not clear! We are very not clear!" exclaimed Steve back at the same time as he hit another couple of robots with his shield.

 _"All right, coming to you,"_ replied Clint.

Maria noticed, just briefly in the corner of her eyes, how a couple of police officers had lined up to help the Avengers. She also noticed Wanda and Pietro had arrived, though she didn't see neither Erik or Clint yet.

Thor had gone, leaving Maria to fend for herself. Seeing as this wasn't something she particularly liked, she tried her best to move closer to Natasha and Steve who were still holding their ground over by the broken bridge. Though as Maria tried to move closer to them, more robots just attacked her, making her instead get further away from them. It wasn't until Wanda turned up by her side that Maria could finally take out the last robots. An arrow being shot through the head of the very last robot close to Maria alerted her of the fact that Clint and Erik had arrived as well.

"Thanks," said Maria hesitantly to Wanda, who simply nodded her head. The tension between the two, after what she had managed to take away from Maria, was still very much there even during the battle. Though Maria tried her best to stay neutral towards the young woman.

With Pietro coming to a halt next to Wanda, the three of them watched as the others carefully led some of the last stray civilians into the store, no more robots currently attacking the Avengers.

"Next wave is gonna hit any minute," said Steve through the com. "What do you got, Stark?"

 _"Nothing great. Maybe a way to blow up the city. That'll keep it from impacting the surface, if you guys can get clear."_

"I asked for a solution, not an escape plan," replied Steve, closing the door behind the civilians.

Maria, Wanda and Pietro followed Steve and Natasha to where Clint was standing by the edge, looking out over the blue sky they were currently still ascending into. The higher up they got, the bigger the impact radius would get, this Maria understood. And she also understood, that if the impact radius was big enough, everything on the planet would be burnt to ashes, leaving a burned and apocalyptic would behind which Ultron would rule. That was his plan, that was his utopia.

"We're going to need a plan soon… Once Ultron begins the drop, it's too late," said Maria.

A little further away from them, she saw Erik running out of a building with a child in his arms. He took the child to the shop, the crying mother taking the child from him with a grateful look on her face.

Her heart sunk slightly.

"Cap, these people are going nowhere," said Natasha, turning her head away from Erik and back towards Steve.

"If Stark finds a way to blow up the city, innocent people will die," said Maria, taking a step forwards and looking at Steve with a pleading look, feeling slightly guilty to have to put a decision like this on Steve's shoulders. Though she knew she herself wouldn't be able to make the right decision if she had been in Steve's shoes and only found herself admiring him more because he stayed calm and was mature enough to be able to make decisions like that.

"Everyone up here versus everyone down there?" asked Natasha, raising an eyebrow at Maria. "Both you and me have done worse…"

Maria shook her head; "I'm no murderer anymore."

"I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it," said Steve, looking between Maria and Natasha. "If we're going to be killers at the end of our lives, the least we can do is stay with them."

"I didn't say we should leave," said Natasha quietly before sighing. "There's worse ways to go. Where else am I gonna get a view like this?"

Maria's heart sunk even more. Not only would innocent people be blown up only to save the world. But this would be the end of her life. Not that she minded it. She'd rather die with the civilians than have to live with the knowledge that so many innocent people had died because of them.

Steve looked at her with a saddened look on his face. Though when she nodded her head at him, letting him show that she was okay with it, the sadness in his eyes turned to something else. Something she couldn't describe as anything else but… admiration.

A blush appeared on her cheeks.

 _"Glad you like the view, Romanoff."_

Maria gasped. That voice. It was Fury, undeniably. His voice caused a wave of relief to wash over her and she smiled.

 _"It's about to get better,"_ said Fury's voice as something big suddenly ascended into view of them.

"Impossible…" said Maria with a smile.

 _"Nice right? Pulled her out of the mothballs with a couple of old friends,"_ said Fury.

"Old friends?" asked Maria curiously.

 _"Me, for example,"_ said the voice of none other than Martin Lund, a tech interested young, Swedish man who had helped Maria, Steve and Sam back when Hydra had been found lurking amongst SHIELD. Maria had actually been wondering what he had been doing lately, seeing as SHIELD existed no more. Apparently, he had not been far away.

"Martin!" exclaimed Maria, her smile widening even more.

 _"Well, the hellicarier might be dusty. But… she'll do to help you guys,"_ said Fury.

"Fury, you son of a bitch," said Steve.

 _"Woo! You kiss your mother with that mouth?"_ asked Fury sarcastically.

"We need to get the civilians off the city. Stark's gonna blow it," said Clint, exchanging a relieved look with Nat, Maria and Steve.

 _"No problem. Deploying life-boats."_

The moment Fury had said that; giant life boats were indeed deployed from the side of the helicarrier. They moved over towards the edge of the city with ease and Pietro and Wanda took a step closer, their eyes looking genuinely intrigued.

"This is what SHIELD is?" asked Pietro, turning his head to Steve.

"This is what SHIELD is supposed to be."

Maria and Clint immediately ran over to the shop, opening up the doors and briefing the police and military who met up with them, of the situation at hand. They looked just as relieved as Maria felt and soon, the lifeboats Fury had promised them had 'docked' with the flying city, holding themselves steady so that the civilians could board them. The Avengers all worked together to make sure the civilians moved calmly and that no one was left behind. Those injured and without anyone to help got the help they needed to move towards the lifeboats by Maria, Wanda and Clint. Some were in too much shock to move and those, Steve talked to, calming them down for long enough to move them to the lifeboats.

Unluckily, the rescue took a little too long and the next wave of Ultron moved in while the last civilians were boarding. So, the Avengers' task became a little more difficult. Though Tony along with Rhodey (a very surprising person who had come to help) made sure the robots didn't come close to the civilians from up above. Those who did, Wanda or Erik took out.

 _"I got it!"_ exclaimed Tony's voice through the com. _"Rhodey, get the rest of the civilians to safety. Avengers; time to work for a living. Meet me by the church, now."_

Maria exchanged a look with Clint, the two having just helped an elderly lady on board one of the life-boats.

"We're on our way," said Steve, gesturing for them all to start moving.

With the question of what plan Tony had come up with to blow the city up and save the world, Maria began to jog towards the center of the flying city, hopeful that this would all soon be over.

* * *

 **This chapter wasn't the best of chapters, I know that. But... Next week, the chapter will be much better, I promise :)**

 **Here's a little hint for what's going to happen next week. Remember when everyone was freaking out over which important character was going to die. Well, that won't change. But there's more death coming up... I'm evil like that.**


	28. Chapter 27, The Last Stand Part 3

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 27~  
The Last Stand Part 3**

As expected, Pietro arrived first at the church. Steve wasn't far behind and when Maria arrived, she managed to shoot a robot attacking him square in the face, effectively helping him get it off his back.

He nodded a thanks before he and Maria continued fighting the robots who were, as it seemed, trying to make their way towards a vibranium post standing in the middle of the half-ruined church. Around the post, Thor, Tony and Vision were keeping the robots away from it, seeming to protect it and so, Maria and Steve joined in while Pietro simply did his own thing.

The others soon came as well, one by one, and soon, only Natasha was the one missing. They had taken the fight to the church now, and Ultron had not missed this fact.

"What's the drill?" asked Steve, throwing his shield at three enemies and taking them all out before the shield bounced back into his own hand.

"This is the drill," said Tony, fighting off robots on the other side of the church. "If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose."

"The post-thingy here is the core?" asked Maria, ducking a robot which Thor, fighting next to her, took out while she herself shot another robot attacking Wanda.

"Yes. Keep it safe so that we can use it later on to blow up the city," said Tony.

"Got it."

Wanda was the one to take down the last robot before things calmed down again, and Pietro quickly ran up to her to gently ask her how she was, something that Maria couldn't help but smile a little about. When Erik walked over to her, simply looking her over once before turning to look at Thor and Steve, Maria scrunched her nose disappointedly. Though, what had she expected to happen? That Erik would suddenly become the father she had always wanted?

Something caught Maria's eye and she soon realized why Erik had turned to look at Thor and Steve. Ultron himself was hovering in the air in front of the church, looking at them with his metallic, red eyes, which obviously were quite unreadable.

"Is that the best you can do!?" exclaimed Thor.

Had he been human, Ultron would've been smirking evilly. Though, he wasn't. Instead, the Avengers all had to watch in silence as even more, double as many as before, robots appeared on Ultron's signal. Some were flying, some were crawling creepily over buildings and towards them.

"You had to ask," sighed Steve, exchanging a serious look with Thor.

" _This_ is the best I can do," replied Ultron. "All of you, against all of me. How can you possible hope to stop me?"

"Well, like the old man said," said Tony as he walked up to stand in line with Thor and Steve. "Together."

And so the last fight began. Luckily, the Avengers had one benefit. The robots could only come into the church through the open doorways. These were all around them, though at least all the Avengers could keep an eye on the robots coming inside. If there had been no ceiling, there would've been even more space to keep an eye on.

Thor was fighting next to Maria, most of the time they were fighting together, Maria not having the time to aim properly and only being able to wound robots which Thor then took out for her at the same time as he took out those coming towards himself. Maria took out her dagger as well, using it against those robots she or her teammates missed and came too close to her. All in all, it was going well, except it was very dusty which hurt Maria's eyes a bit.

Steve was fighting on the other side of Maria, using his shield and strength to his advantage. Pietro was everywhere, as were Tony and Vision who both could fly. Wanda was fighting next to Erik, using a similar technique as Maria and Thor. The Hulk took the fight outside of the church as well, while Nat came crushing in through one of the walls; a little late to the party, with a forklift, successfully taking out several robots before fighting next to Clint and Steve.

It was when the flock of robots was beginning to thin that Ultron showed his face as well. Maria shot at him, though even with the special bullets she had gotten from Erik, it barely had any effect on him. He simply looked at her and shot a ray of red square into her chest, sending her straight back into the hands of the Hulk, who had managed to catch her before she hit the wall.

"Thanks," she groaned as he set her down.

As she healed, the Hulk kept robots away from her and she herself kept her eyes on Vision as he fought against Ultron. It wasn't until he blasted Ultron out of the church through the ceiling that Maria felt healed up enough to continue the fight. She looked down at her suit, seeing it was burned right where her breasts were. Luckily, it was simply a couple of holes and her bra was still quite intact. Even if her suit had been even more ripped, she wouldn't have minded. It was more important to her that the world was saved then whether or not she was showing off too much skin.

Tony and Thor followed Vision out of the church and Maria quickly made her way towards one of the openings, standing there with wide eyes as she watched Thor, Tony and Vision attack Ultron. Each used their own powers, Tony shooting a beam at him with his suit, Thor shooting lightening at him and Vision shooting… a yellow, strange beam at Ultron which Maria didn't know what it was. Though it was coming from the gem which Maria figured meant the beam was powerful.

With awe, she watched the strong Avengers take Ultron on and she wondered why she hadn't stopped before to think of just how powerful friends she had nowadays. She was especially looking at Thor, an actual God. With the power she figured he had inside of him, he could probably destroy worlds.

A wave of appreciation suddenly washed over her. It was strange and so sudden that it made her suddenly dizzy. She had to hold onto the wall for a bit before she regained her balance.

The wave of appreciation reminded her strongly of what she remembered her grandfather had always said he felt before he had died, even though he hadn't known he would die. Her grandmother had lately told her that it was probably something his soul knew, that his final day was coming soon, which made him suddenly appreciate everything more. This only confused Maria though. After all, she had always appreciated her friends a lot. Why did she suddenly have to become emotional during such an important fight? And did it mean something?

When the three Avengers stopped shooting at Ultron, he stood up, looking significantly more damaged than before.

"You know, with the benefit of hindsight-" started Ultron before the Hulk landed before him and punched him so hard, he flew away and landed far off.

Ultron would not recover from that in a while, maybe even never. Tony, Thor and Vision turned to Maria and the other Avengers watching from inside of the church as they realized they had won.

"Have we beat him?" asked Maria quietly and hopeful.

"Yes… I think we have," said Thor.

"Not all of him," replied Tony. "Some robots are going to want to leave the city."

"We can't let them," replied Steve.

"Rhodey?" asked Tony.

 _"I'm on it."_

Vision lifted up from the air, leaving to probably help Rhodey.

"We gotta move out," said Steve - Thor, Tony and Maria walking over to him and the others. "Even I can tell the air is getting a little thin."

"He's gonna drop the rock soon," said Maria worriedly.

"You guys get to the boats," said Steve. "I'll sweep for stragglers. Be right behind you. Tony, Thor, work on a way to blow up the city."

"I'll sweep for stragglers too," said Maria, Steve looking at her sternly. "You'll not have time to check the entire city on your own."

"She's right," said Erik.

"Alright. But hurry," said Steve. "Check for both robots and civilians. We don't know if we've missed any."

Maria nodded her head.

"What about the core?" asked Clint.

"I'll protect it," said Wanda after a moment's silence, Pietro looking like he was going to protest. "It's my job."

Everyone scattered. With one last look at each other, Steve and Maria took off towards opposite sides.

* * *

Time was running low, Maria knew this. And so, she was beginning to jog back to the life-boats. However, a call made her stop. Someone was shouting for help.

She turned around swiftly, entering one of the buildings which she knew was the last thing she should be doing considering the entire city would be blown up soon, or begin to fall. Even with her own powers, she doubted she would survive such a fall nor would she survive that sort of explosion. Though the call was so loud, so close-by, she knew she could save this one, last person and get him or her away from certain death.

She reached the second floor, entering one of the flats there and finding, much to her disappointment and relief, that it was just a TV still functioning, somehow. It was showing a movie in which the main-character in the movie was screaming for help.

Maria watched, knowing full and well that she was supposed to be getting to safety with the others, as a man approached the main-character, calming her down.

 _"Listen to me – listen to me. We have to get out. If we stay any longer, we're all gonna die. You hear me? This piece of shit is gonna fall out of the sky, and we're gonna die. So pull yourself together and let's get our sorry asses out of here."_

The man was making sense, and he made Maria's legs start working again. As quickly as she had ever run, she made her way down the stairs – or rather she fell down them – and out into the street again. From the safety of one of the life-boats, Steve turned to look at her, his face relaxing into a look of relief as his eyes finally found her for whom he had seemed to be searching for. However, the look of distress on Maria's face was soon mirrored in his as he realized that time was running out.

It was like everything was moving in slow-motion. Steve raised his hand, stretching out to her as far as he could without actually placing himself in danger; knowing it wouldn't help Maria at all.

"Maria, run!"

Every step she took felt like it was too slow. She knew that if she would manage to get onboard, the entire scene would look rather weird. And she also knew that, the moment she had turned around to head for the voice from the TV, she had doomed herself to death.

As she was only a meter away from Steve and his outstretched hand, her own hand stretching out to him, her next step didn't touch the ground underneath her feet. It had already begun to fall; just like she.

Maria managed to see as Steve jumped forwards, falling flat on his stomach on the small, floating raft in a last attempt to grab her outstretched hand, before the life-boat was too far up for her to see anymore. She was free falling; and it was going fast.

 _"Thor! Tony! Someone, Maria's still on Sokovia. I repeat, she's still on Sokovia. Do not blow it up."_

 _"What? Steve, we can't stop now. The world's gonna end otherwise!"_

The feeling of free falling in such a velocity and from such a height, was the strangest feeling ever. She wasn't breathing nor did it feel as though her heart was beating. Her entire body felt tingly and cold while it stayed in one position, only the wind passing her by telling her that she was indeed free-falling. Usually when Maria fell, she'd feel a tickling feeling in her stomach, though that wasn't there. It was just numbness and a sense of time having stopped around only her.

 _"No!"_

 _"It's Earth… Or Sokovia."_

 _"Vision! Please!"_

She had been there before. Free falling to what she was sure was a certain death. Though last time, she had been pushed. Last time, she had only been a mere murderer. Now, she was falling because she had tried to be too much of a hero. This time, she was falling as a hero.

 _"I've got Wanda."_

 _"And Maria?"_

"Do it…" she said. Her voice sounded like a whisper due to the wind passing by her ears, though from the way her voice hurt, she was sure she had actually screamed it.

 _"NO!"_

Heat suddenly took over the coldness and she was suddenly pushed away by a great force, the boom not coming until after she had been pushed away. She started twirling in the air, debris hitting her from all sides while some travelled with her, twirling just as much as she did. In her state of shock and confusion about what was happening, she still felt the traditional feeling of her body healing everywhere the debris hit her. And had it not been for her knowing of the plan Tony had, she would've been utterly confused about what was going on.

She didn't register the water until she hit it, bouncing on the surface a couple of times before the surface finally broke and engulfed her now hurting body. The explosion had taken her along with most of the debris, to the sea which wasn't too far away from where Sokovia had once been. Also, when Ultron lifted the city up in the air, it must've moved the city not only up but also side-ways albeit it might not have been intentional. That, or Maria truly flew a great way.

As the water engulfed her, her fears returned to her. Her once numb and shocked body began functioning again and she suddenly needed to breathe albeit it was impossible seeing as she was now under water. The collision with the sea had broken her body and she wasn't healing fast enough to start swimming up towards the surface. Instead, all she could do, was watch as the shiny surface got further and further away from her, the bubbles of air rising up to it and leaving her alone. Red smoke surrounded her, created by the blood she was rapidly losing and leaving a trail behind her as she sunk down further and further into an abyss of darkness.

Her fear of oceans was relevant. One didn't know what was down at the bottom; whether it was a dead body, a sunken and forgotten ship or deadly fish. Now, it seemed, she was going to find out.

As any normal human being, her lungs needed air. And in a final attempt to survive, her lungs sucked in whatever was around her. The water was not appreciated and she tried to cough it back up, obviously failing terribly. Her eyes widened and in the mist of the bubbles and red smoke in front of her vision, she vaguely saw the shadow of her grandmother looking down at her.

This she recognized. It was the same thing she had seen all those years ago before Artur had taken her into his custody. She had been dying then. And she now knew what was happening to her too.

This was it; the final thing she would see before she died. Her body might be able to heal, but it couldn't make sure she could breathe again. Hell, she didn't even know if her body could revive her once she died seeing as it never had happened before. And a part of her knew that it couldn't. Her powers weren't that amazing. And even if they could, what would the point be? Would she have to drown over and over again for all eternity? She certainly hoped not.

Her grandmother smiled down at her, stretching out her hand for Maria to take. The necklace with the engagement ring on shifted away from her broken suit and floated up into Maria's vision, causing her to temporarily look away from her grandmother. This made her go back to reality and she felt her lungs cramping, wishing for air. Her body was stiff, needing oxygen to work and it hurt so badly. Yet it was calm. The pain was more of a longing for an end; a longing for death.

As the ring stayed floating in front of her face, the necklace still around her neck, she let her mind take her back to her hallucinations. Her grandmother re-appeared again, that warm, loving smile encouraging Maria to take her hand.

And she did. With one last piece of her strength, she moved her arm towards the hand and grasped it, the darkness of the ocean seeming to consume her. She was aware of what was happening… The darkness, the never ending darkness, was taking her.

And she embraced it. This had been her last battle. This had been her last stand.

Little did she know that the hand she had grasped towards the end, had not been her grandmothers, but Thor's. Little did she know, that had she held on a little longer, she would've survived.

* * *

 **Steve's POV**

 _"I'm going down for lady Maria!"_

A wave of relief washed over Steve. He had been able to do nothing but watch as the city was blown up with Maria still there. They had already lost one Avenger, Pietro, and he wasn't going to lose another. Especially not Maria.

"Well, that was unfortunate," said Erik's voice from behind Steve, causing him to turn around.

There, Erik sat next to Clint, who had handcuffed the man the moment he had walked onto the life-boat.

"That is your daughter," said Steve with a monotone voice, shocked by the smile on the man's face.

"Was, you mean," he replied before chuckling at the shocked look on Steve and Clint's faces. "Oh, come on! You don't actually think someone with our powers can survive an explosion like that?"

"Shut up," said Clint, quickly tightening the handcuffs, causing Erik to hiss in pain.

"That is abuse," said Erik lightly. "I don't think your allowed to abuse your prisoners."

"Does it look like I care?" asked Clint with a glare. "You're a psychopath."

"No, he's a sociopath," said Steve, taking a step forwards. "I thought you loved your daughter."

"I thought you did too, but then the ring was suddenly gone-"

Steve had grabbed Erik around the throat, even shocking Clint with his actions.

"Oh! Captain, what a nice surprise," groaned Erik, trying to chuckle even though he had a bit trouble breathing. "Don't think I don't care for her. The things I've done for that child… You would be surprised."

"Just shut your mouth. I don't want to hear another word coming from you until Maria's back with us," said Steve, finally letting go of Erik's throat.

"Then I'll stay quiet for the rest of my life…"

* * *

Thor held Maria's limp body in his arms as he landed on the rocky beach. The waters dripping down his face hid the actual tears he knew he was letting slip down his cheeks and as he crouched down, gently placing her down on the sand, he bowed his head, closing his eyes.

"I am sorry…" he said quietly, grabbing her dagger and gently placing it on her chest, almost afraid of hurting her even though she was gone. He grabbed one of her cold hands and curled her fingers around the dagger, letting hand and dagger rest on her chest in a noble way. She was a warrior to him, and he would treat her as such.

Gently, he placed his thumb on her forehead, letting it slide down to her nose as he spoke soft, Asgardian words to make sure her spirit was free to go to Valhalla. He stayed next to her body with a bowed head until the others arrived. All but Pietro and Bruce arrived at the beach; Tony arriving first.

Thor had never seen Tony Stark like that. He had landed on the sand next to Maria, almost convinced she was not dead until she didn't open her eyes and reply to his sassy comment. Then, reality seemed to hit him and he fell down to his knees, angrily removing his Iron Man helmet before grabbing onto Maria's free hand, pressing it against his forehead as he silently cried.

Clint had let out some angry comments at the sight of Maria's dead body and stormed off to mourn on his own while Natasha, Wanda, Vision and Rhodey stayed a couple meters away. Out of the four of them, Natasha was the one who had tears in her eyes. Nick Fury, Maria Hill and Martin Lund both stayed away from the Avengers, giving them space. Out of those three, Martin was the one with tears in his eyes.

It had been Steve's reaction that had made Thor walk away as well, making him wish he could've done more. Steve had arrived last and had, upon seeing her body, collapsed to the ground a few feet away from her. Tony had let go of Maria's hand and tried to comfort Steve, though he had only been pushed away.

Captain America crawled over to Maria's dead body, half sobbing half shouting in anger. He grabbed the hand Tony had been holding before, his fingers desperately curling around her cold fingers, his heart breaking when he didn't get a response, something he'd never get ever again.

He suddenly turned silent.

Through the tears in his eyes, he looked at her face. Her lips were already pale and dark circles were around her eyes. Other than that, she looked as beautiful as always – this very thought making him crack all together. As the tears once again came pouring down his cheeks, he rested his forehead against her stomach.

Denial soon kicked in and he stopped short in his mourning to look up at her face again, using his free hand to cup her face and try to, gently, awaken her from her sleep. Though it didn't work. And as Tony placed a hand on his shoulder to tell him just this, a wave of depression washed over Steve.

He pressed his forehead against hers, wishing he'd stayed with her, wishing he could still feel the engagement ring on her finger now and wishing he had been stronger than he had been. The last time of her life had been ruined, because of him. And he would have to live the rest of his life with that guilt as well as the lack of knowledge of what could've been had they stayed together.

"Maria…" he sobbed. "I'm sorry… Please, I'm so sorry… Pl – Come back to me. Please…"

Her eyes stayed closed.

* * *

 **Yes, I'm evil like that. Is this the last chapter? No. Is this the last story? Who knows.**

 **Don't hesitate to comment your exact thoughts on this. I'm sure they're not going to be very positive seeing as I literally just killed of the character this was all about.**


	29. Chapter 28, Grief

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 28~  
Grief**

 **Steve's POV**

Taking a moment away from the role as Captain America, was something Steve hadn't realized he had needed. The moment he had left to go to town, a wave of relief had washed over him. He had been on his motorcycle and had been forced to pull over for a minute to get himself together again. The relief was a nice feeling. Though the feeling that came after, was not a nice feeling.

It was grief. Pure and utter sorrow. When he was Captain America, Steve didn't feel this so much. He had a role to play, he had duties and things that kept him away from those awful thoughts and memories he still had about _her_. In a way, it felt nice to not have to grieve; to not feel the pain he knew existed in his heart. Though he hadn't thought of the fact that he hadn't allowed himself any time to grieve yet, which meant that when the moment came that nothing kept Steve from thinking of Maria, everything that he hadn't felt the past two days, hit him at once.

With a sigh, Steve had continued on towards town. Buying a coffin was something that needed to be done; another duty that he had, and he quickly forced away the grieve to think about what coffin Maria would have preferred.

Couples who had been together for a long time usually knew what the other wanted for their funeral. Some people, had Steve heard, even used this page on the internet to write down what they wanted their funeral to look like, or what they wanted their loved ones to know in case they'd never get to say it before the end. Though Maria had been a criminal for a long time, which meant she needed to keep her name and existence hidden, so writing on such a page had been something she never did. And before that, she had been too young to think about death. Their time together hadn't been very long and they had never discussed death; which, Steve came to think, was odd seeing as their line of work was rather dangerous and life-threatening.

So, when Steve stood in the room filled with caskets to choose from, in a funeral home located in Hell's Kitchen, he had no clue what to buy.

His bank account wasn't the fullest of all the Avengers. And when he looked at the prices of some of the caskets he found worthy enough to hold Maria's beautiful body, his wallet burned in his pocket. He knew he would never be able to give Maria the funeral she deserved. Though he wanted to arrange it himself. It was the least he could do after all the pain he'd caused her before she died.

"You decided yet?" asked the fat, red-faced man standing beside Steve with his arms crossed over his chest.

The man had been there the countless of other times that the Avengers had come. Each time, the man seemed to become sourer and sourer, probably because he had to get up from his chair behind the desk to pull out Maria's body each time a hero arrived. And they were many, all wanting to grieve and say goodbye on their own.

"I, uh, don't think I'll be able to afford any of these," said Steve, turning his head to look at the man.

"Yeah," he said, obnoxiously chewing his gum. "Well, there are less expensive ones over there. Just figured an Avenger like ya would get enou' money from the White House to afford these."

Steve followed the man's finger, his eyes landing on a couple of caskets that were literally just wooden boxes. His chest tightened, thinking about Maria lying in such an ugly thing. She deserved better for her last time above the ground; for her last resting place.

"Look, maybe we can come up with an arrangement-"

"Don't worry about the money, Cap," said a voice from the doorway, causing both Steve and the red-faced man to turn around. "I'll handle all of that."

Tony walked in, one hand in his pocket while the other hand removed his sunglasses. Again, Steve's chest tightened though this time, it was because of anger. He watched as Tony walked over to the most expensive caskets, his eyes landing on the one Steve had seen earlier as well.

It was made of a beautiful, white birch that glistened in the sunlight coming in through a near-by window. The inside was, currently, clad in a matt, turquoise silken fabric. Though Steve had read that you could choose whatever color and fabric you wanted for the inside.

"This looks nice, doesn't it Rogers?" asked Tony, turning his head slightly to look back at Steve.

"Aye, this one 'ere is one o' my favorites as well," said the fat man, walking over to Tony with a glint in his eyes that told Steve the fat man had realized who had the money out of the two of them. "It's really goin' to make 'er look like sleepin' beauty durin' the Visitation."

"Well, then, that's settled then," said Tony, clapping his hands together. "Now, Mr…"

"Slipper, sir," said the red-faced man.

"Mr Slipper, if you could just give us a moment to, uh, truly make up our minds…?" asked Tony.

"Aye, I'll get the papers ya'll need to sign," said Mr Slipper, immediately waddling out through the doorway and into the front of his funeral home, efficiently leaving the two heroes on their own.

"Gotta say, it's a really good-looking coffin," said Tony, sounding genuinely impressed as he gently placed his sunglasses in the front pocket of his suit. "You're probably wondering how I knew you'd be here."

Steve didn't reply, but simply stared at him until he continued to talk, seeming oblivious to Steve's rising anger.

"That new kid – Wilson? - told me. Said he'd seen you go off on your bike to arrange some stuff for the funeral-thingy," said Tony. "I figured, hey, why not join? We both were close to Dalton, I have the money to actually arrange her funeral and so on. By the way, that Wilson kid, amazing asset to the team. Dalton really made a good call when she said she wanted him to join."

Steve turned around, his breathing now deep and rather furious.

"So, about the talking," said Tony, coming to stand next to Steve who was turned toward one of the cheaper caskets, one hand resting on the top of it. "I was wondering; do you know if Maria left behind any unfinished business?"

Steve's fingers curled into a fist.

"Like, did she owe someone money or did she have any mortgages-"

"What does it matter!?"

Steve pounded his fist against the top of the casket, immediately breaking it as he furiously glared at Tony. It didn't help that Tony simply stood there, looking smug.

"She's dead! None of that matters!" exclaimed Steve. "God, I can't even give her a good funeral on my own. Mortgages… No. She didn't have any. Because she didn't live anywhere because I broke up with her and we never had the chance to get back together and move into a new apartment, like we wanted. No, she didn't owe anyone any money 'cause she barely spent any because she dedicated her whole life to helping people, to being an Avenger, to being there for me…"

His sentence died out as tears pushed up against his eyes, a lump forming in Steve's throat as the pain overwhelmed him, making him take a deep breath to calm himself down again.

"And I didn't… She didn't know… I just wish I had managed to make her feel my love for her…"

"There it is," said Tony gently, causing Steve to look over at him again, removing his hand from what remained of the casket he had accidentally broken. "You see, I like Wilson because he didn't just tell me where you were. But also how you were."

Steve's eyebrows furrowed, not understanding what Tony meant at all.

"He told me you had been Captain America for the past two days. Since the day you all moved into the new, soon to be, Avenger's HQ, you hadn't been anything but Cap. That's not healthy, man," said Tony gently. "You gotta grieve. You gotta let out the pain… Let it consume you for a couple of days, at least until the funeral. At least until you've said good-bye. 'Cause this isn't healthy."

"Maybe I don't want to grieve…" whispered Steve.

"Why not?" asked Tony, furrowing his brow. "You can't keep going like that or you'll break! What would the team do if there was no more Captain America? No one else to lead us?"

"You'd lead us fine," said Steve in a murmur.

"No. I wouldn't. And you know that," said Tony, pointing a finger at him. "So step up, be a man, and let those tears flow. 'Cause you're gonna break otherwise."

Steve simply looked over at Tony, not being able to see anyone else but Howard Stark whenever Tony and he shared a moment like that. There was just something so familiar with the support Howard managed to give, on the times he wanted to, back in the good old days whenever Tony was like that; supportive, real and a genuinely good friend.

"You're paying for that," said Tony, gesturing towards the broken coffin.

There was a short silence broken by Tony; "Thor's staying 'till after the funeral." He chuckled lightly. "He wanted to give her a 'real funeral' with fires and all. Apparently, Asgardians place the body on a raft filled with gifts or personal belongings to the person, push the raft gently out onto a river, and then they send a burning arrow to set the raft on fire… I told him we didn't do it that way."

"Good," said Steve. "'Cause I'm not burning her."

"By the way," said Tony, placing a hand on Steve's shoulder. "You do all the planning. I mean, I'm good with parties and seeing as funerals don't really have strippers… I mean, I was just riling you up back there, bud."

"I know," said Steve, nodding his head appreciatively. "You're a good friend Tony."

"Come on, let's sign those papers," said Tony, letting go of Steve's shoulder and putting his sunglasses back on.

The two walked back towards the doorway.

"How was Pietro's funeral?" asked Steve.

"It was good," said Tony. "Wanda had arranged it beautifully. She's back at the Avengers HQ now, cooking a meal for everyone to apologize for everything she's done."

"She doesn't have to," said Steve quickly.

"No, I told her so too when I dropped her off," said Tony with a shrug. "But she insisted."

* * *

 **I know it's short, but there's more coming soon so that'll make up for the short chapter :)**


	30. Chapter 29, Dreams

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 29~  
Dreams**

 **Steve's POV**

Life had been hard the past week. Not only were the medias trash talking the Avengers - the only kind of family Steve had left - but Steve was also expected to keep on going; to keep the Avengers together and trained. The Avengers HQ was now officially ready to be used and no more builders were on the premises. So, he was expected to be Captain America again, the leader of the Avengers. Just like Sam had done, Wanda and Vision had both joined. So a true leader was indeed needed to keep the new teammates together; someone to keep them focused on their training and their search for their own MO. Help would probably come after the funeral, though until then, Steve was on his own.

According to Tony's advice, Steve had allowed himself to grieve for the past couple of days, though now, he was expected to come back again. And that was before the funeral which was going to take place in two days.

Things were harder now. Before, after he had awoken from the ice, things had been hard too. He had had nightmares, trouble sleeping and more. But once Maria entered his life, all of that changed. Sure, he still had had some sleepless nights and some nightmares, but they had been less frequent than before.

Now, those problems were all coming back to him again. He had barely slept more than an hour each night, if even that, since Ultron's defeat and the nightmares felt like a mix of memories from the war and memories of Maria and her cold body laying on that beach.

That, and there were these strange dreams of him going to see her body, Mr. Slipper pulling out her body as usual, and then her cold hands grasping his as she called out for him to help her. Those nightmares were the worst ones and he found he always had those, when he would accidentally fall asleep during the night because of sleep deprivation.

Steve depended a lot on people that were loyal to him and seeing those loyal to him were his friends, and girlfriend, he depended a lot on them. Now, the Avengers were of course his friends, but it was different with them, different with Natasha or Tony. They weren't Bucky nor Maria. And neither of them were there by his side now. Of course, Tony had been but he wasn't in the HQ that often due to his duties in his own company. Natasha was away still, apparently doing some last business with Fury, and Sam tried to be there for Steve, though it was different with him too. Both Bucky and Maria were so close to Steve compared to Sam, that even Sam had troubles helping Steve.

He doubted he'd ever get to see Bucky again. Though there was at least still a chance he might. With Maria, there wasn't one, except for the chance of seeing her laying on a cold table, her lips blue and her eyes closed. Or seeing her in the birch casket they'd picked out for her, wearing make-up to cover up her pale skin, a beautiful bouquet of roses in her hands, resting on her stomach…

The HQ Tony had built, which was Steve's new home for now, was one of his father's old storage buildings but renovated, obviously keeping the things his father had left behind in case they'd ever be needed. Things were looking good for the Avengers, even if everyone currently seemed to blame them for the destruction of Sokovia. Everyone, apart from the eyewitnesses that had survived. At least, that's what Steve had heard.

It was the first night the team would spend in the new HQ together as a team and everyone was enjoying a nice dinner together. However, Steve wasn't a part of this dinner. Instead, he was sat on his bed, his back hunched over and his arms resting on his knees. In his hands, he was holding the ring Maria had been wearing around her neck at the time of her death, the ring she had once worn around her finger in anticipation of getting to be called Mrs. Rogers.

 _"You have no idea how nervous I was-"_

 _"Oh my God. This is what you wanted to ask me yesterday, wasn't it? How long have you been carrying this around?"_

 _"A-A while. I was trying to find the perfect moment to ask you."_

 _"Steve, any moment spent with you is perfect," had Maria said, lifting his hand to her lips and kissing it._

 _"You know… I'm really happy this happened. Mostly because this is with you and I'm finally finding something in my life that is permanent and good."_

 _"You'd already found something permanent and good. The Avengers. We won't break up. We're like a family every one of us."_

 _"We are. But I can't deny the fact that I'm mostly happy this happened because I won't have to live much longer with my father's name."_

 _(…)_

 _"Honestly, I'm just glad you're liking the name Rogers."_

 _"Maria Rogers… Yeah, I like it."_

At that thought, Steve closed his eyes, a wave of nausea and grieve hitting him all at once. He enclosed his fingers around the ring, shielding it from view once he opened his eyes again. It was the only thing he had left of her apart from her bag of clothes she had brought with her to the farmhouse, not having taken a single picture of her during their time together due to their hectic lives, and although it brought him immense pain, it also helped him feel a little better. The thought that he, with the help of the ring, would never forget about her, was enough for him to get out of bed each morning. Besides, he didn't need a picture to remember such beauty; especially not with the super soldier serum enhancing his memory. And especially not because of his drawing skills. He had already sketched several pictures of her from his memory, trying to preserve her beauty as best as he could.

The seemingly loud vibration of a phone made Steve jump slightly, straightening his back slightly and tensing up. His eyes shot around the room, searching for the phone in question, seeing as his, which was laying on the nightstand table next to him, had not lit up. After a while, his eyes landed on the bag Steve had placed in front of his closet, unsure of what to do with it and the clothes that once belonged to such an amazing young woman. Quickly, he hurried over to the bag and opened it, beginning to search the bag for the phone.

He grabbed it right as it vibrated once again, the screen lightning up and showing the red warning for low battery along with a notification for two new messages. Steve furrowed his brow, taking the phone with him as he returned to the bed.

Gently he swiped his finger over the screen as Maria had once shown him, the screen now asking him to type in a password. Again, he furrowed his brow together though quickly typed in the right password, smirking slightly at what it was;

Mater Mortis.

Although she openly said she hated the name the media had given her, Steve knew that she deep inside found it rather cool. It suited her quite well and it did make her sound rather dangerous.

 _Did_.

Steve sighed, opening the app for messages. He raised an eyebrow at the name of the person who'd texted her and quickly went to read the messages.

 _From: Matty_

 _Problem in HK. Meet me tonight if convenient ~ 3 minutes ago_

 _From: Matty_

 _If inconvenient, come anyway ;) ~ 30 seconds ago_

Steve cocked his head to the side, wondering why Maria had never told him about how bold Matt was. From what Maria had told him, Matt was a sweet, caring and quite an introvert guy. Though from the messages he had sent her, it seemed he was rather a flirt.

A flare of jealousy arose inside of Steve to which he frowned. It was a nasty feeling, especially seeing as he had broken up with her. Therefore, he tried to calm himself down by thinking he must've missed something. Perhaps this was an inside joke they made.

Dread filled Steve as he realized that to Matt, Maria was still alive. Matt was walking around, fighting crime both during the day and night, seeing as he was a lawyer of some sort according to Maria, still thinking he would see Maria whenever she would be done with her mission. Most likely, he had heard of what had happened in Sokovia and thought she was free now. And in a way, she was more free now then she would ever have been in real life.

He would have to reply; tell Matt what had happened. And it was the first time he would ever have to tell anyone. The first time he would ever need to utter, albeit he would write it down now, the words.

 _To: Matty_

 _This is Steve Rogers, Maria's ex._

Steve frowned, deleting the sentence.

 _This is Steve Rogers, Maria's close friend. I regret to tell you that Maria will no longer be able to reply to your messages. She's gone. Died in Sokovia. I believe you know what went on down there due to the media. I'm sorry you had to get to know like this. I wish I didn't have to tell you at all._

 _I'm sorry._

With a shaking thumb, Steve pressed the send button and watched as the phone turned his text into a little speech bubble underneath of Matt's previous texts. He was going to put the phone down, search for a charger in her bag in case more people tried to contact Maria, when the phone vibrated again.

Another message from Matt.

 _What?_

Steve let out a breath, his heart aching.

Another message came through.

 _This isn't happening_

Steve quickly replied, truly understanding what Matt must be going through.

 _It has happened. Her body's currently being held in Hell's Kitchen, 'Slipper's Funeral Home'. The funeral's in two days. You're welcome to come._

The text turned into another little speech bubble, the percentage of the battery now being 8 percent.

The phone vibrated again.

 _I need to see her._

He quirked his brow at the sentence, remembering quite well what Maria had told him about Matt's eyesight. Then again, if Matt truly was blind, then how was he supposed to be texting?

 _I don't think that's possible_

The phone vibrated again.

 _I don't care. We'll make it possible._

Steve smirked. This was why Maria liked Matt for sure.

* * *

A chilly breeze was lazily slopping against Steve's face as he stood outside of the funeral bureau of Hell's Kitchen, waiting for Matt Murdock to arrive. They had agreed on meeting, Matt apparently having a plan to make it possible for them to see the body one last time before the funeral.

Maria's phone was tucked inside of his pocket, resting neatly next to the ring. He had tucked his hands into his jacket's pockets to keep them from freezing, and he was softly fumbling with the ring, trying to make the angst and pain go away slightly by calming himself down with the smoothness of the jewelry. He had not seen her in a while and he was afraid she might've changed, as dead bodies do. The last thing he wanted was to remember her as less beautiful than she was alive.

A black cab stopped in front of Steve, making him tense up slightly out of habit. Though exiting the cab, was none other than a blind man, wearing sunglasses over his eyes, a long dark coat covering the rather fancy suit he was wearing, and carrying a stick in his right hand. He fumbled slightly trying to get out of the cab, though quickly regained his posture once he was up on his own two feet again. The cab drove away the moment the man had closed the door behind him and the man slowly, carefully using his stick to feel where the pavement was and where he could walk, made his way over to Steve.

"Mr Murdock?" asked Steve, making the man turn his head towards the sound of his voice.

"Mr. Rogers, I presume?" asked the man, stepping towards him.

"Indeed. Mr. Murdock-"

"Call me Matt," said the man, smiling gently. He stood before Steve with the stick held upright in front of him, both his hands on the top of it.

"About your plan-"

"It's gonna work," said Matt confidently, beginning to walk over to the front door of the funeral bureau, knocking on the locked door right underneath the sign telling them both that it was closed.

"You sound very sure of yourself?" asked Steve, following Matt.

"I've done this sorta thing before. With Maria, actually," said Matt, the sound of her name coming from his lips creating pain in Steve's chest again.

"Why does that not surprise me?" asked Steve lightly, earning a smirk from Matt.

The door opened, revealing Mr. Slipper again. As usual, the white mustache on his face made such a contrast that Steve, as always, at first glance thought it was simply the leftovers from a very creamy pastry he had eaten just seconds before opening the door.

It sure looked like that was what the mustache was, anyway.

"What do you want?" asked the red faced man, glaring at Matt before his eyes looked over at Steve. "Oh, not you lot again. Look, I said it before and I say it again! This ain't a place for mourning!"

"No, of course not Mr. Slipper," said Matt, sounding slightly sarcastic to Steve as a response to the man's comment about the funeral home. "But unfortunately, there seems to be a mistake in the official documents of the government and apparently, they missed noting that someone's identified the body."

"What do you mean? They've been runnin' back and forth 'ere all week! Had to throw 'em out so I could work on preparin' the body!" exclaimed the man, obviously irritated. "Besides, we're **closed**."

"I know," continued Matt before the man could close the door. "And I'm sorry to intrude, but the government has specifically asked me to accompany the one man who can identify Miss Dalton once and for all so that I can note that it's happened."

"And who are ya supposed to be? A lawyer?" asked the man sarcastically, obviously not keen on letting them inside.

"Precisely," said Matt, earning a scoff from the man. "And unless you move aside, I will, on behalf of the government, sue you on a lot of money."

"Sue me?" exclaimed the man. "A lot of money?"

"Yes, Mr. Slipper, now what will it be? A debt to the government which would probably mean you lose your astounded business here, or you take a step aside and let us in?"

The man looked between Steve and Matt a couple of minutes, seeming to try and determine why neither of them were faltering and telling him it was all a bad joke. Though as no one did so, and neither of their serious faces changed, the man's eyes soon filled with panic.

"Alright, alright," breathed the man, stepping aside and opening the door further to allow them entrance. "Don't got enough money to stand me ground… Pitiful really."

The man led the two of them down the stairs into the cooling room. As Steve remembered from his former visits, the man walked all the way back to the second last row before opening one of the metal hatches and slowly, carefully, pulling the metal cot Maria's lifeless body was laying on, out.

"Thank you, Mr Slipper," said Matt. "You can leave us now."

"Leave?"

"Yes, leave. We have some things to take care of here. It'll take no longer then ten minutes," said Matt curtly.

"Yeah, right," muttered Slipper as he turned and walked away from them towards the door. "That's what they all said…"

"Rude man," commented Matt as the door closed behind Slipper.

"I agree," said Steve before their attention was turned to Maria.

She still looked the same. Her face was just as pale as it had been at the beach, the same dark rings around her eyes and the same purple color on her lips. Nothing had changed. Her cheeks had not sunken in, her face didn't look less beautiful…

It was strange, really, how nothing had changed. Steve knew from previous experiences with bodies that they did indeed change, even if they were on ice. This was a rather exceptional case, then again, Maria did have healing powers back in her days. Perhaps, the cause behind those healing powers would be the reason for why her body changed slower than other bodies? Mr. Slipper might've said that he was going to prepare her for the funeral, but seeing as she was still in the white cloth they had put her in after the autopsy, Mr. Slipper had not done any preparations yet. Then again, he did seem like a man who did things in the last minute.

After some help from Steve, Matt managed to find Maria's face. He gently caressed the outlines of her face with his fingertips, his lips turning into a thin line before he let out a long breath.

"I'm so sorry…" said Matt quietly, gently placing a hand on the top of her head, stroking her hair softly. "I know you loved being a part of their team but surely this isn't what you had thought would happen…"

Steve's chest tightened again, looking away from Maria for a short moment. Though, in that short moment, a lot happened. When Steve looked back at Maria's body, Matt had disappeared. It shocked Steve greatly, making him take a step back. Suddenly, the lights seemed to dim and the tight feeling in Steve's chest turned into a sharp pain.

"Captain Rogers, I presume?"

Steve spun around at the sound of the voice, surprised to see an older, bald man sitting in a strange looking wheelchair. He was simply sitting there, a few meters away from Steve with what looked like a calm, collected smile on his face. Though it somehow creeped Steve out. The entire scene creeped Steve out. He knew now that he was back in one of his nightmares. Though what of the past events had been true or not, he was unsure of. And what would soon happen that would lead to him waking up, he didn't know either.

"Who's asking?" asked Steve, the room suddenly turning colder.

"Professor Charles Xavier," said the man with a kind tone to his voice. "I knew Maria when she was still breathing."

"How? She never spoke of you," said Steve curtly.

"No, I assumed she hadn't," said Xavier. "You see, I have some… peculiar powers. I reached out to her as I felt her powers growing. I see myself as one who helps those of my people that become lost. And she was one of those at that time."

"I don't understand," said Steve, shaking his head.

"I'm a mutant. Just like she is," said Xavier, the kind tone to his voice still present. "And I'm reaching out to you now to hand over a message."

"What message?"

A thousand questions were swiveling through Steve's mind though he didn't have time to ask any of them as Xavier gestured to something behind Steve, the coldness in the room become worse, chilling Steve to the bones as he turned around.

Once again, Steve was shocked and fear grasped onto his heart as Maria's dead body suddenly shot up into a sitting position. Her hand reached out to him, grabbing onto his collar as she pulled him close.

She had changed now. Not physically, though. But there was ice on her skin and he could see her shivering, her teeth rattling.

"Help me," she whispered, her voice barely audible and clear pain visible in her eyes. "Get me out of here… Please."

Steve gasped, sitting upright in his bed. For a moment, he still saw Maria's face in front of him and he made a motion to get away from the image, though as soon as he had seen her, she was gone again. The dream was still very vividly in his mind and although these sort of dreams had happened before, this seemed more… real.

Steve was still shivering from the coldness in the room he had been in earlier in his dream, though he was slowly warming up again. The dream had felt different. That man, Xavier, had never appeared before in his dreams and neither had Maria ever seemed so… real.

Fumbling slightly as his fingers were still ice cold, Steve shifted over to the nightstand table, grabbing the phone that once belonged to Maria and quickly unlocking it. In the darkness of his room, the light hurt his eyes, though he paid no attention to that as he opened up the app Maria used to read messages. He needed to know what parts of his dream had been real, and which had not been real.

Opening up the conversation she had with _Matty_ , Steve saw indeed the texts he had sent him to explain what had happened with Maria. Also, he saw the messages Matt had replied along with those in which they made up a plan to go see Maria together one last time before her body would be prepared for the funeral.

 _We should get there early so that they haven't started their work yet. ~ 3 hours ago_

 _I agree. Seven o'clock? I won't be able to sleep anyway ~ 3 hours ago_

 _Sounds like a plan. I'll meet you at Mr. Slipper's Funeral Home then. Don't be late, Mr. Rogers. ~ 3 hours ago._

It was strange. Steve still seemed confused as to what was real and what was not real. And there was a strange part of him that was aching to go visit Maria. Something about that dream made him wonder… If maybe it hadn't been just a dream. If maybe it had indeed been a message.

 _Get me out of here… Please._

* * *

 **As promised, a longer chapter for ya'll after that rather short one yesterday :)**


	31. Chapter 30, Surprise?

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 30~  
Surprise?**

Steve's heart beat fast as he stood outside of the funeral home of Hell's Kitchen, the same chilly breeze he had felt in his dream softly slapping against Steve's face. He was waiting for Matt anxiously. Not understanding why everything was so alike his dream.

As in his dream, Maria's phone was tucked inside of his pocket, resting neatly next to the ring. Though he wasn't touching the ring that lay peacefully next to the phone. He didn't dare come close to it after the dream. He had experienced strange supernatural things before during the War though there was something bone-chilling about the realness of the dream. Something about it made him restless, restless to get inside to Maria as if something, or someone, was pulling him inside; crying for him to help them.

A black cab stopped in front of Steve, making him tense up slightly as once again, the cab looked and stopped just like it had in his dream. Though the real Matt looked different than he had in Steve's dream. He wore similar clothes and similar red, dark glasses to cover his eyes. However, Matt didn't stumble out of the cab as he had done in Steve's dream. Instead, he exited the cab with confidence, the walking stick he had in his hands resting in his hand though not being used.

The cab drove off the moment Matt had closed the door and he turned his head to look behind the cab, seeming to raise an eyebrow at the cab which peeked Steve's interest slightly.

"Cab drivers can be quite rude," said Matt as he walked over to Steve, the stick in his hands barely being used.

"Mr Murdock?" asked Steve.

"Yes," said Matt, shaking Steve's hand with ease, again causing Steve to raise an eyebrow. He didn't act like any blind man Steve had ever met before.

"Nice weather we have today, huh?" asked Matt, looking up at the sky. Steve said nothing, unsure of what was happening for a moment before Matt looked back over at Steve. "I'm kidding. I can't see the difference anymore. But it's cold."

A short silence dawned over the two, only the sound of the cars passing them by being heard along with the swooshing of the wind.

"Uh, yeah," replied Steve simply before clearing his throat. "About your plan-"

"It's gonna work," said Matt confidently, beginning to walk over to the front door of the funeral bureau, knocking on the locked door right underneath the sign telling them both that it was closed.

"I have no doubt about it," thought Steve to himself, watching Matt walk over to the front door of the funeral home. "You sound very sure of yourself?" asked Steve, following Matt.

"I've done this sorta thing before. With Maria actually," said Matt, the sound of her name coming from his lips creating pain in Steve's chest again.

"Why does that not surprise me?" asked Steve lightly, earning a smirk from Matt.

The door opened, revealing Mr. Slipper again. As usual, the white mustache on his face made such a contrast that Steve, as always, at first glance thought it was simply the leftovers from a very creamy pastry he had eaten just seconds before opening the door and the deja-vu of it all simply made it all even weirder.

"What do ya want?" asked the red-faced man, glaring at Matt before his eyes looked over at Steve. "Oh, not you lo' again. Look, I said it before and I say it again! This ain't a place for mourning!"

"No, of course not Mr. Slipper," said Matt, as sarcastically as he had done in Steve's dream. "But unfortunately, there seems to be a mistake in the official documents of the government and apparently, they missed noting that someone's identified the body."

"What do you mean? They've been runnin' back and forth 'ere all week! Had to throw 'em out so I could work on preparin' the body!" exclaimed the man, obviously irritated. "Besides, we're **closed**."

"I know," continued Matt before the man could close the door. "And I'm sorry to intrude, but the government has specifically asked me to accompany the one man who can identify Miss Dalton once and for all so that I can note that it's happened."

"And who are ya supposed to be? A lawyer?" asked the man sarcastically, obviously not keen on letting them inside.

"That's exactly what he is," said Steve before Matt could respond, remembering what Matt had responded with in Steve's dream and reciting it with the same light yet firm tone Matt had used. "And unless you move aside, he will, on behalf of the government, sue you on a _lot_ of money."

"Sue me?" exclaimed the man. "A lot of money?"

"Yes, Mr. Slipper, now what will it be? A debt to the government which would probably mean you lose your astounded business here, or you take a step aside and let us in?"

The man looked between Steve and Matt a couple of minutes, seeming to try and determine why neither of them were faltering and telling him it was all a bad joke. Though as no one did so, and neither of their serious faces changed, the man's eyes soon filled with panic.

"Alright, alright," breathed the man, stepping aside and opening the door further to allow them entrance. "Don't got enough money to stand me ground… Pitiful really."

As it happened in his dream, Mr. Slipper allowed Steve and Matt to go inside. Walking a little way behind the man, Matt suddenly, which didn't happen in the dream, leaned over to Steve.

"Told you the plan would work," he said quietly.

Steve looked over at him, simply nodding his head as he was not sure of what to respond with. Surely he could have told Matt that he had been confident in the plan, though it would start the conversation of why he had changed his mind about the plan, which in turn would raise the topic of Steve's dream. And Steve was sure that, even though Matt was a little bit of a hero himself, he was not accustomed to dreams such as the one Steve had about Maria. Besides, what was he supposed to say anyway? That he had dreamt about it and it was all so real that Steve somehow knew that it would work?

The man led the two of them down the stairs and into the cooling room just like in the dream and just like all the former visits. Slowly, Mr. Slipper walked all the way to the second last row before opening one of the metal hatches and slowly, carefully, pulling out the metal cot Maria's lifeless body was laying on.

Steve noticed Matt's breath hitch slightly as Maria's body was revealed to him. Though he didn't see why seeing as Matt was still blind. Then again, he was barely using his stick and underneath of those glasses, Steve highly doubted he was truly blind the way Matt sometimes turned his head in the exact right position to look at certain things no blind man would want to turn their heads for.

"Thank you, Mr Slipper," said Matt. "You can leave us now."

"Leave?"

"Yes, leave. We have some things to take care of here. It'll take no longer then ten minutes," said Matt curtly.

"Yeah, right," muttered Slipper as he turned and walked away from them towards the door. "That's what they all said…"

"Rude man," commented Matt as the door closed behind Slipper.

"I agree," said Steve before their attention was turned to Maria.

She looked exactly the same as in the dream. Her face was just as pale as it had been at the beach, the same dark rings around her eyes and the same purple color on her lips. Nothing had changed either from what he remembered of his previous visits. Her cheeks had not sunken in, her face didn't look less beautiful…

Matt gently placed a hand on Maria's hair, softly brushing his fingers through it. There was something about the way he looked down at her, the gentle way he talked, that boiled Steve's inside with anger. Of course, Steve understood that this was Maria's body and Matt probably wanted to show some respect. But one did not act like such around a body, not according to Steve.

Matt leaned down to her ear and whispered something. Only because of Steve's advanced hearing given to him by the super serum was he able to hear what he was saying. Matt's words made him look away from Maria and Matt shortly, turning around.

 _"I should've told you earlier about my feelings…"_

Realization dawned on Steve then, making his anger dissipate slightly, that things were not going as in his dreams anymore. The Professor was not appearing and as Steve turned around, Matt was still there albeit he had straightened up and was simply looking down at Maria by now.

A strange emptiness entered Steve's heart. A part of him had probably actually hoped that a miracle would happen and that Maria would sit up again with that beautiful smile of hers that he missed so dearly. Though she did not.

"Alright," said Matt, nodding his head and looking over at Steve. "The funeral's tomorrow, right? We should let Mr. Slipper do his job then."

As Matt passed Steve by, the emptiness inside of Steve turned into a strange panicky state. The same one that you get whenever you realize that you have forgotten something at home; maybe not turned the stove off or forgot to lock the front door. However, Steve knew that his panic did not come from him forgetting something. In fact, Steve hardly could forget anything. Though what it was that was causing him to feel like that was something Steve could not figure out. A part of his unconscious mind knew it though and it was trying to tell Steve the answer.

"Wait," said Steve without meaning to, causing Matt's footsteps to stop.

"What?" asked Matt, his voice softly echoing in the room.

The sound of the ventilation in the room was softly drumming in Steve's eardrums. Though there was something else. Another sound.

"Mr. Rogers?" asked Matt, confused.

Steve stared over at Maria. The noise sounded like something breathing very, very deeply or with a lot of struggle. As though a thick fluid was making it hard for whoever was trying to breathe.

"Do you hear that?" asked Steve quietly, walking over to Maria's lifeless body.

"Hear what?" asked Matt.

Suddenly, Steve saw it. The thing his unconscious mind had noticed, the thing his eyes had noticed though he himself had not consciously thought about.

Maria's chest was slowly moving up and down.

Letting out some sort of noise of surprise, which probably surprised Matt slightly, Steve ran up to Maria's body, grabbed her underneath of her shoulders and lifted her up and away from the cold metal cot she was laying on. Matt stood there, speechless, as Steve gently lay Maria down on the floor, wrapping her up in his own jacket and holding her upper body in his arms.

"She's breathing…" he exclaimed, looking over at Matt who, without questioning what Steve had just said, ran over to them and placed a finger against Maria's neck, checking her pulse.

"Holy…" breathed Matt as he removed his fingers, looking up at Steve who stared at Matt with wide eyes, still cradling Maria's body in his arms.

A light cough was heard suddenly and then the weak voice of Maria resonated in the cooling room.

"Steve?"


	32. Chapter 31, Return of Maria Dalton

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 31~  
Return of Maria Dalton**

"Unbelievable."

"I knew it. Didn't I say I did? Well, I did."

"Lady Maria! I never doubted your strength but this… well, I suppose what they say is true, strong warriors always come back from the battle, one way or another."

Maria forced a smile onto her lips as Thor harshly, though not on purpose, clasped his hand onto her shoulder painfully hard, with a broad and bright smile on his face. The smile could brighten anyone's day as it filled his eyes with happiness that was almost infectious. Though it did not brighten Maria's day. Instead, she walked over to the open fire the Avengers had all been gathered around when she and Steve arrived, sitting down in front of it and wrapping the blanket Steve had wrapped around her, more tightly.

"How…?" asked Clint speechlessly.

Steve walked over to Maria, crouching down next to her and putting a second blanket over her to which she smiled gently.

"I don't know," replied Maria, her heart warming up slightly at the feeling of Steve rubbing her arms and shoulders gently to warm her up more effectively. "I mean… one minute I was in the water and the other I was on the floor in Steve's arms," she lied.

"Remarkable," said Vision.

"I suppose this is what I'll have to get used to now? People coming back from the dead?" asked Sam, crossing his arms over his chest with a broad smile on his face. "Good to have you back, M."

Maria nodded her head, forcing another smile onto her lips.

"Perhaps a little bit of a space for our undead teammate, hm?" ordered Natasha as her eyes lingered a little longer than usually on Maria's, seeing something in them that made her shuffle the Avengers out of the room, leaving Thor, Steve and Tony with Maria.

Steve sat down in a near-by sofa while Tony and Thor stayed put where they were, all three looking at Maria who turned her head to stare into the fire. After a while, Maria shifted slightly so she could bring her hands towards the fire, warming her cold fingers up.

"I did not lie earlier," said Thor, breaking the silence which caused Steve and Tony to look over at him. "In my time I have seen many brave warriors go to battle in which they were believed to have perished only for them to then return to Asgard weeks or years later."

"I'm no brave warrior…" mumbled Maria, shakenly moving her fingers as they finally began to warm up again. Steve had forbidden Maria to warm up quickly after she had woken up, having said something about her dying again if she warmed up too fast and so her fingers were stiff to move as was her entire body.

"'Course you are," corrected Steve, Maria still not looking away from the fire. "The New Avengers look up to you."

"What, even Wanda?" spat Maria, her eyes narrowing slightly.

Though the angry demeanor soon vanished as she realized how she was acting and what she was feeling, causing her to let her hands fall down to her lap, her shoulders sagging.

"Sorry…" she mumbled. "It's just weird."

"Obviously," stated Tony. "You died. I scanned your body, Dalton, your heart had stopped."

"I know…" mumbled Maria. "I know it all."

"What do you mean?" asked Steve.

"I felt it all," said Maria. "It was so… weird. Like I was pushed out of my body… I watched as Thor put me down on that beach and I tried to heal, I truly did, but my body wouldn't let me. And then I saw everyone come to the beach, grieving me while I was actually not gone…" She shivered, pulling the blankets around her a bit more closely. "It wasn't until the agents, or whatever we should call them now, came to carry me away that I saw why I wasn't healing. When they lifted me, water dribbled out of my mouth, clearing away from my lungs. Not until then did I feel those weird tingles I usually feel when I'm healing."

"You mean the water in your lungs kept you from healing?" asked Tony, cocking his head to the side as he stroked his goatee, seemingly deep in thought.

Maria turned around then, still sitting down and beginning to warm her back.

"I think my cells can't do what they do when things are in the way of the process," pondered Maria.

"Sounds reasonable," agreed Tony, nodding his head.

"I've had some time to think about it," said Maria.

"You were outside of your body when they put your body on ice?" asked Steve.

"Yes…" breathed Maria, looking down at the floor. "I could feel that my body was close to being done with healing but the coldness, it slowed everything down, making it almost come to a stop at one point. And I felt it, the biting cold, the rough hands taking care of everything… I thought I was never going to get back together again, that I would have to be alone for the rest of my life, living outside of my body next to a gravestone, waiting for someone to come visit me…"

"It's okay," said Steve, shifting so he was seated on the edge of the sofa, close to Maria. "You're here now."

"Yes… Now," she said quietly.

"Either way, it's good to have you back, Dalton," said Tony. "Steve needs some help with the new recruits."

A lump formed in Maria's throat, making her only response to be a nod of the head and a forced smile. During her time as 'dead', Maria had gone through some emotions she thought she would never be able to go through. Dark emotions that made her wish for the sweet everlasting death that she knew existed out there for those who were normal. Her mind visited dark places she thought had not existed and therefore, she did not feel ready to return. In fact, she doubted whether she even wanted to continue being an Avenger at all. She could 'die' again if she continued on being an Avenger and she was afraid of this. Not to mention that the dark places her mind had gone through had not left her unscarred. She felt empty and not prepared at all to continue working.

Tony left the room, leaving Thor and Steve staring at Maria.

"That is," said Steve after a little while. "If you're ready to return. I know what it feels like to be put on ice… I know what it feels like to return from something like that."

"But you returned 70 years after the incident," said Maria, looking over at Steve. "I can't even imagine what it must've been like…"

"You helped me though," responded Steve warmheartedly. "A lot."

"Aye, and the Avengers will be here to help you adjust again," added Thor.

"You're staying?" asked Maria hopefully.

Thor's smile faded slightly, his eyes flickering down to the floor.

"I'm afraid not," he admitted solemnly. "I am needed in Asgard. The infinity stones… I need to gather more information about them."

"Ah, right," said Maria. "It's okay. We'll have our training session when you return then."

"I had not forgotten about that," boomed Thor, pointing a finger at Maria. "And I promise you we will train when I return to Midgard again."

"I'll hold you to your promise," beamed Maria.

"When are you leaving?" asked Steve.

"Heimdall knows I wanted to leave after the funeral," said Thor, Maria looking away at the word. "And I will still leave tomorrow at midday."

"It's weird that it's all over… It _is_ all over, right?" asked Maria, looking between Thor and Steve who both chuckled at her panicky look.

"Of course. Ultron is gone. Vision made sure that every bit of him was destroyed before we left Sokovia," said Steve with a nod of his head.

Letting out a breath of air, Maria relaxed slightly. At least she did not have to worry about that anymore. Ultron was gone and the world was safe from him. The only thing that was still bothering Maria was the inkling feeling of fear in the back of her mind.

"If you'll excuse me," said Thor, nodding his head at Steve and Maria before walking towards the door leading out of the living room. Before he left, however, he turned around one more time. "I am truly glad you are back, lady Maria."

A silence was left hanging after Thor had left the room. The prickling feeling of fear dwelling in the back of her mind was starting to annoy her. She had never feared death before, then again, she had never had to experience being dead. On the other hand, she never truly was dead. Perhaps for a few minutes, but once the water had managed to leave her lungs, she had started to heal and feel again. The only thing that still bothered her was the out of body experience that she had had. Would death always be like that? Would she never be able to rest after she had been killed or was this just temporarily because her body somehow knew that it could still heal?

With the questions flooding through her mind, she barely noticed as Steve shifted to come and sit beside her on the floor, his back also turned towards the fire. He watched her for a while in silence, quietly reading the emotions that were coming off of Maria's face.

"During the battle…" started Steve, causing Maria's eyes to snap over to his face.

Something changed inside of her as she looked at Steve. It had happened ever since the moment the two of them had left Matt's apartment to go back to the new Avenger's HQ. It was a strange feeling that made her entire mind turn around; away from the fear she felt and towards the emptiness inside of her she knew he had left behind.

It was a nostalgic feeling she felt when she looked at him because being that close to him; being in a room alone with him, was something that had not happened since the awful fight the two of them had had. And she had missed being close to him, being able to take in his handsome features and beautiful eyes. She had missed it so much, especially during the time she had spent outside of her body, waiting for company down there in the cooling room.

"You said something that… inclined that you were unsure of whether you still 'have me'," continued Steve, his voice low and silent, rumbling through the loud room with only the silent crackling of the fire being heard in the background. "I never got to tell you that you do. You never lost me. I was and still am just scared that I can't make you happy."

"Steve…" sputtered Maria, her heart beginning to beat quicker.

"I never got to tell you the actual truth," continued Steve, looking down at his hands. "I never got to tell you, before you left us, that I don't want that anymore. I want to try. I know I might not make you happy, but I know that I will live every day only to fight for your happiness. Maria, these past days… I don't know if I could've continued on without you."

"Of course you could've," confided Maria. "You're Captain freaking America. You are as strong as this nation's people are together. I never doubted that you couldn't do this on your own. Now, that wasn't why I died, of course… But I know that that was something I was thinking when I was… there, outside of my body. It calmed me down knowing that you were okay-"

"But I wasn't," stated Steve, turning towards Maria so that one part of his face was illuminated by the orange light of the fire, while the other one was left in shadows. For a brief moment, Maria's mind could only focus on her favorite movie 'the Dark Knight' and the villain Two-Face that Steve reminded her off when the light was cast on him like that. But she soon managed to push that thought aside at the sparkle she saw in his eyes. The sparkle she so often had seen before when they had been together. "I wasn't okay. I was far from okay. Ask anyone here and they'll tell you that. I don't think I can live without you."

"Don't say that," mumbled Maria quietly, turning to face him as well as angst began to sip into her heart. "Please don't. This team needs you and… After everything I've been through… I might decide to throw in the towel."

At the look of devastation that was on Steve's face, Maria quickly stuttered; "But not forever," even though she did not quite mean it. In her current state, she was afraid of having to go through that experience again. She had never been more alone, more isolated, than she had been during the past week and it scared her that saving the world might force her into that position again. Leaving the Avengers was the way to go when it came to making sure that fear would go away. Besides, the team could survive without her. She was not needed in the same way as Tony, Bruce, Steve or Nat, for example. She was just sort of there, always adding more villains to the story due to her past and adding heartbreak and disappointment to the one she loved the most. In her mind, she was no real hero like Steve and she could not even be a real future wife as she could not have children. What was the point of her staying then?

"Don't-"

"Steve, please," pledged Maria. "The solitude I've been through and the fear… I just don't want to go through that again."

"I understand, you're scared you're gonna die," began Steve, though Maria interrupted him, suddenly becoming slightly upset for some reason.

"Yeah, I am. Because that's not what death is supposed to be," she said, furrowing her brow together. "Death's supposed to be peaceful and an ending to it all. I saw my granny before I died. I was gonna leave with her. But instead I ended up watching myself, not being able to leave my body's side and staying in a cold room for a week without anyone to talk to, anyone to ask for help. So, yeah, I'm scared. Because I don't want that to happen again."

"Maria, if it ever happens again, none of us is going to allow you to be carried away again," stressed Steve. "This happened because you've never died before, obviously. You healed and somehow your mind played you a trick to show to you an out of the body experience."

"You don't believe my story, do you?" asked Maria quietly.

"I… It sounds rather improbable," he began before looking down at his hands. "But… Something odd happened while you were away."

"What?" asked Maria, calming down slightly as curiosity took over instead.

"I dreamed that you came back to life. But before you did, someone… someone I had never met before was talking to me and it all felt so real and so… strange," said Steve.

"You dreamed about me coming back? You knew I was gonna come back that day?"

"I didn't know," confessed Steve, shaking his head. "But the dream gave me hope. And now you're here, just like my dream said."

"Who spoke to you before I woke up in your dream? Please, Steve, it's important to me."

"Um… A man in a wheelchair. I think he called himself a professor," began Steve.

"Professor Xavier?" stressed Maria.

"Um, yeah. Do you know him?"

"Yeah… And he visited me two days ago."

* * *

 **Sorry about the lack of frequent updates, I've been working on NaNoWrMo and it's just taken up a lot of my time.**


	33. Chapter 32, Old Self

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 32~  
Old Self**

"Do you think he's dangerous?" asked Steve.

Once Maria had felt up to the task, having gotten something warm to drink and some fresh clothes from Natasha, Steve had decided to show her around the new Avenger's HQ, seemingly not have taken in the fact that she had decided to leave. Then again, perhaps this was his way of trying to convince her to stay, though she knew it would not help at all. She needed to leave so she could get herself together again.

"Professor Xavier? No. He seems to want to help me… or at least talk to me," said Maria. "That's what he told me in all of my dreams."

At the end of one of many hallways Steve had led her down, there was a large common room conjoined with an open kitchen. It was close to the living room Maria had been put in when she had returned and she deduced that it was the part of the HQ where the Avengers were supposed to live. Albeit it looked rather modern and slightly plain (Maria always enjoyed more colors and more decorations in her home, not that she had ever truly had a real home), the place felt rather homey. She figured it was because most of the people she had met there so far, were her friends and the only thing out there she could call a family. A part of her suddenly felt really heavy as she realized that, in order for her to mend, she would have to leave her family.

"This is basically the kitchen," said Steve, looking back at Maria who, with a smile, took everything in.

Though her smile soon faded as she noticed two people sitting around a table close-by the kitchen; Clint and Wanda. It was not the sight of Clint that had changed her mood, but the sight of Wanda. She briefly wondered how the others could have so easily changed their opinion on her after all she had done, though she stayed silent about it and simply decided to avoid looking at her.

However, avoiding to look at her became very difficult as Wanda stood up, leaving her meal unfinished while quickly hurrying over to the fridge to pull out three delicious looking donuts.

"For you."

Her words shocked Maria tremendously and she watched the young woman walk over to Maria with wide eyes. The tray Wanda carried was cutely adorned with sprinkles and tiny chocolates and the donuts themselves looked utterly delicious. She had not realized how much she had missed eating food until those donuts were put underneath of her nose. However, her happy thoughts about the donuts soon turned dark as her eyes trailed over to Wanda's hopeful gaze.

"She's been bribing all of us for the past week. I gotta admit, it's a good way to become one of the team," chuckled Clint as he leaned back in his chair.

The fact that Clint was not bothered about Wanda's presence seemed to stir something inside of Maria. Perhaps it was jealousy, jealousy of the fact that Clint, the one who loathed mind control the most for a very good reason, had come to accept her as one of the team faster than Maria. Indeed, jealousy made the most sense as a solution to her angered feelings, especially as she noticed Steve smiling so cutely and adoringly at Wanda's effort to bribe Maria's acceptance with donuts which caused her entire soul to flare up in flames; anger starting to take over her.

"I tried to make them as good as possible," said Wanda, her adorable accent not helping Maria's burning rage. "But I had not heard of donuts before I got here."

"Excuse me," said Maria, turning her back on the donuts and Wanda and leaving the room, using her every fiber to keep the flames in control so they would not control her.

Rolling her fingers up into fists, she began to walk down the hallway again, angry thoughts rushing through her mind which she desperately tried to control. The poor woman had done nothing wrong towards Maria and deserved no yelling at for simply making some donuts. But her past actions… Well, for some reason, Maria had a difficult time seeing past them.

"Maria!" called Steve, running up next to her to walk beside her. "What was that all about?"

"Where's my room?" she asked simply.

"She's part of the team now," explained Steve. "Her past might have-"

"Might!?" exclaimed Maria, freezing on the spot, the flames burning even brighter. "Her powers _destroyed_ the team!"

"I thought you were an accepting person, Maria," scolded Steve.

"I'm loyal too. Someone who destroys my team doesn't earn my loyalty."

"Stop it," he said with a look so sharp that his words caused her flames to die in an instant. "She helped us with Ultron and she understood her wrong-doings, deciding that going against us was the wrong thing to do. Now, the team accepted you even after your past. I did. So, please, give her a chance. If not for her, for me."

Maria looked down at the ground in front of her, letting out a sigh though not replying. She wanted to reply with something in the lines of; "Tell Bruce that." Though she knew she would truly hit a nerve then, seeing as Banner was missing.

Gently placing a hand on her arm, Steve continued to talk; "You look exhausted. Let's wrap the tour up by showing you your room."

It was not far away from the rest of the living area in the HQ, just as Maria had suspected. And as she had thought, it was close to the other original Avengers' rooms. Next to her, Natasha had her room and next to Natasha was Steve's. Immediately to the left of Maria's room was Thor's, though she doubted Thor would be using it a lot as he basically lived on Asgard.

"It's not much and it's not so… pretty, but it's yours," said Steve with a soft smile playing on his lips. "I'll show you the training courts tomorrow. I'm sure you'll like them."

"Steve…" she said quietly, looking around at the plain, modern styled room she had gotten decorated with nothing more but a bed, a huge closet, a white rug, a desk and a couple of chairs to sit in. "I told you… I can't stay."

"Doesn't mean I can't show you," he began skeptically though she shook her head, walking over to him as he stayed by the doorway.

"I know. But I won't use them. I think I'll leave tomorrow after Thor has left. It's the best thing to do for the team and for me. I mean, I can't even be who I used to be… That kind person who overlooked people's rough pasts and wrong-doings… At least, I think I used to be like that."

"You're still you, believe me," said Steve, gently placing his hands on her arms. "You weren't wrong about what you said earlier. You _are_ loyal and those who aren't loyal back from the very beginning… well, they have a hard time getting to know the wonderful Maria Dalton the rest of us know," said Steve soothingly.

"But I don't want to be that person. I want to be kind! A person others can look up to."

"You don't think others look up to you?" asked Steve quietly, his emotion-filled eyes rendering her speechless.

He sighed, offering her a soft smile before letting go of her and turning to leave her alone in her new room, which would not be hers for a very long time. However, Maria stopped him before he could close the door behind him.

"Steve? Could you send Wanda up here with those donuts? I'm starving," she quietly spoke, earning nothing but a soft smile in return before he closed the door.

It was the first time she had been alone since she had come back to life. And the moment the door closed, panic gripped onto her heart. She fought against the impulse to run up to the door and follow Steve desperately like a lost little puppy, afraid to be left alone once more. Instead, she walked over to the large mirror hanging from the wall next to her large, empty closet. It was the same size as her and she could see herself entirely. Her cheeks had sunken in slightly over the week that had passed and she looked paler and weaker than before. She would have to train and eat up her strength again if she wanted to go back to the vigilante life again. Though, was that what she wanted?

As she looked at herself in the mirror, she barely recognized herself. The person she had felt like the past week as she had been floating around outside of her body, had been the person that she was right in the beginning of everything. The bubbly, slightly awkward person who barely ever believed in herself. But things had changed; she had changed and now that she looked at herself in the mirror, she did not like the person who looked back at her. She had become hateful and too confident to her own liking. The person she used to be was driven on the fear of failure; the one she was now was driven on annoyance and hate.

A soft knock was heard on her door before it was opened ever so softly. Through the mirror, the first thing she saw passing through the doorway was the tray of donuts before Wanda came into view as well. Fighting against the person she had become, Maria tried desperately hard to smile and be kind to the woman; all Wanda wanted was for one of the original Avengers to like her and accept her. She was apologizing to Maria and there had to be a way for Maria to accept said apology.

"Clint was not wrong," said Wanda after a while, noticing very well that Maria was not going to turn around to greet her. "It's a bribe. A bribe to make everyone forgive me easier."

"So you decided to bake donuts?" asked Maria, finally turning around and walking over to Wanda, taking the tray from her.

"It's the only thing I'm good at. Baking and cooking," said Wanda with a shrug.

Maria looked into Wanda's eyes, seeing the same pain Maria had felt back when her family was torn apart. Though she was unsure of whether or not she should say anything about it.

"I want you to know," said Wanda, looking from the tray to Maria's eyes, a certain sincerity in the young woman's eyes making them twinkle. "That I truly thought that I was doing the right thing when I decided to… mess up your minds. But I wasn't. I was driven on anger and recent towards a man who did not even do anything personally to me. I was blinded by those feelings and could not see Ultron's true intentions until it was too late. I realize what I did to you and-"

"No, please," interrupted Maria, placing the tray on the desk before walking up to Wanda, looking her deep in the eyes. "I accept your apology. I know what anger can do to you. I've seen it destroy people and I've seen it destroy me. You didn't mean to… And I forgive you for it."

The relief and happiness in the young woman's eyes made the lie Maria had just told her worth it. She could not help but smile as Wanda quickly shook Maria's hand; "I will not let you or anyone else on the team down. I will fight for both me and my brother. I promise."

Still smiling, Maria watched Wanda as she began to make her way to the door, about to leave. Though she froze and turned around, her face suddenly serious again which made Maria's smile falter.

"Your father wanted to speak to you. He told me so before he was brought away to the prison."

Her words shocked Maria; "What?"

"He was held in a cell here for a few days before he was brought further to the prison. That's when he told me," she replied.

"He knew? You knew?"

"I didn't know," she quickly said, shaking her head. "I simply thought he was… odd."

Maria nodded her head, understanding her words as Maria would probably have thought the same thing if someone had said that the person she had seen laying dead on the beach was still alive.

"Thanks…" said Maria quietly before turning around, hearing the door closing behind her.

* * *

 **So, this is the beginning of the new Maria. The Maria that I had come up with from the start, so it is actually not really the new Maria but more of the original Maria... The one that the stories were going to come to eventually and we are there now! It is super weird, actually, but I am also excited about letting the original character out and work with her. There will be about three of four more chapters, and then we will move onto Civil War. Just like last time, I would love for everyone to comment something they want to see happen in the next story. Something with Maria or Steve, or maybe a new character being introduced. Logan was introduced to Maria because someone wanted that, so do not hesitate to comment something that you want to see happen!**

 **Till next week!**


	34. Chapter 33, Goodbyes

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 33~  
Goodbyes**

Maria was standing outside the HQ, staring out over the forest surrounding the complex. To her, it looked like the building was positioned out in the middle of nowhere which, from the long car-ride back from the morgue (this sentence still freaked her out), she figured it also was. A couple of former SHIELD agents jogged past her, each of them saluting her. The salute was simply a formal thing to do; a gesture filled with respect and honor. Though she felt uncomfortable knowing that to them, she was still an Avenger while she on the inside did not feel like one.

"-coincidence. Someone has been playing an intricate game and has made pawns of us," the voice of Thor reverberated as he, Steve and Tony walked outside as well. "And once all these pieces are in position…"

"Triple Yahtzee?" Tony commented, looking a bit smug about his comment even though no one laughed.

The three men stopped by Maria, the four of them forming a circle out on the grass, looking at each other seriously.

"The, uh, infinity stones?" asked Maria, wondering what they had been talking about.

Thor nodded, a flash of worry passing over his face as she mentioned the stones, which only worried Maria more. Though her mind was set. She was leaving the Avengers.

"You think you can find out what is coming?" asked Steve, looking at Thor.

Although Maria knew why the three of them were out there seeing as it had been the reason behind why Maria had been waiting for them, the fact that Thor was fully dressed in his armor, holding Mjölnir in his hand, only proved to Maria that Thor indeed was leaving. She felt rather saddened by it, her heart hurting slightly at the thought that her friend was leaving once more. She remembered the first time Thor had left Earth and how it had not felt as painful. Though she figured it was because their bond had gotten stronger once more, which helped her to feel a little bit better.

"I do," said Thor confidentially before placing his hand harshly on Tony's shoulder, causing him to huff out some air at the sudden heavy hand pressing down on his shoulder. "Besides this one, there is nothing that can't be explained."

Maria smiled at that, watching as Thor walked away from them a little bit before turning back towards them. A sudden wave of grief washed over Maria, emotions bubbling up to the surface.

"Thor?" she said, her voice cracking which caused both Steve and Tony to look over at her. "Remember our promise?"

"Of course!" he boomed, smiling widely. "We will train the next time I return!"

At his words, the grief over having to leave the Avengers hit her so badly, she was pushed forwards towards Thor, tears rolling down her cheeks. She threw herself at Thor, holding onto his torso tightly as she sobbed into his chest. There was a long silence as the three men took in what had just happened, before Thor's arms embraced her back.

"I do not understand…"

She shook her head, taking a step back from Thor, using the sleeve of her cardigan to dry her tears up, forcing herself to calm down.

"I'm not returning, Thor," said Maria. "I'm leaving the Avengers."

Thor smiled.

"Why are you smiling?"

"I find it rather... adorable that you believe that," he said before placing a hand on her shoulder, the gentle touch of his hand surprising her slightly as this was Thor after all. "I _will_ see you the next time I return to Midgard, lady Maria."

She stepped back as Thor let go of her again, still holding in the tears. She felt a hand on her arm and recognized it immediately as Steve's, not even having to look to confirm it. Quickly, she placed hers on top of his, feeling comforted immediately.

Raising Mjölnir over his head and nodding once more towards his friends with a respectful and happy smile on his face, light came down onto Thor in waves, glittering around him before suddenly disappearing along with Thor, leaving nothing but an Asgardian mark in the grass.

"That man as no regard for law maintenance," commented Tony, his sunglasses back on as the three of them looked down at the mark in the grass which still sizzled slightly.

The three of them turned around, Steve's and Maria's hands lowering until they were simply holding each other's hands while Tony was walking next to them with his hands in his pockets, the usual strut in his walk back again. Close by where they had said goodbye to Thor, a gravel path leading away from the HQ's giant garage existed, and the three of them were walking towards it.

"I'm gonna miss him, though. And you two will miss me – there's gonna be a lot of manful tears coming from me, just so you all know," he said with his usual sarcastic voice, a car beginning to drive towards them on the gravel road.

"I _will_ miss you," said Steve, he and Maria stopped beside the path while Tony continued on a little longer, the pebbles of the path crunching underneath of his shoes before he stopped, the car stopping in front of him.

"Yeah?" he asked, turning around to face them.

"Me too," said Maria with a soft smile, a single tear falling down her cheek once more.

He watched the tear a little while; at least he did from underneath of his sunglasses, before he continued to speak; "Maybe I should take a page out of Barton's book. Build Pepper a farm, hope nobody blows it up."

"Do you see Pepper on a farm?" asked Maria with a soft smirk.

Tony smirked back, shaking his head. "No, but I honestly don't think she'll stay with me if another house of ours gets destroyed. She's a bit picky like that."

"What about you? Do you see yourself having the simple life?" asked Steve.

"Do you?" Tony raised an eyebrow at Steve who sighed, looking back at the facility once.

"I don't know. Family, stability… The guy who wanted all that died when in the ice 75 years ago. I think someone else came out," said Steve, his eyes trailing over at Maria who had been watching him intently.

His words struck her hard. It had been his fear to not be able to give her what she wanted; a family life. While in return, it had been her fear to not be able to give him what she thought he wanted; a family. Their break-up had been so unnecessary and destructive… Perhaps, if she had decided to stay and face her fears like an actual hero would do, the two might be able to find each other again…

"You alright?" asked Tony, opening his car door.

"I'm home," said Steve, squeezing Maria's hand slightly and nodding reassuringly at Tony.

"Very well then," said Tony, taking off his glasses to look at each of them in turn, nodding his head at them. "Rogers. Dalton."

"Goodbye Tony," said Maria with a soft smile.

He was about to sit down when he suddenly seemed to remember something; "Here."

Throwing something at Maria, she caught it easily with her free hand. Though before she could ask him what he was doing, he had already sat down in front of the wheel and sped away from them. Looking down at her hand, she saw the keys to one of his cars.

"Clint left earlier, didn't he?" asked Maria quietly, placing the keys in the pocket of her cardigan before turning to Steve.

"He did," he replied. "He said he didn't want to feel the pain."

"Neither do I," she replied quietly. "I'm still not over the fact that he has a family…"

"I'm not surprised though," said Steve with a soft smile. "He's that sort of man."

"There are more on the team that are," said Maria softly, gazing up into Steve's eyes.

The contrast between the dark blue of his suit and the soft, light blue of his eyes made her heart beat quicken. When she grabbed his other hand as well and held them against her chest, raveling in the feeling of his body warmth being close to her one last time, the flutters of love filled her entire body, making her feel as though she weighed absolutely nothing and could easily fly off all the way towards Asgard. Though when the familiar feeling of floating felt familiar to her, she returned to the darkness of what she had been through the past week and the flutters disappeared. That was the exact reason why she had to leave. She was damaged and afraid of dying. Not exactly hero-material.

"Man tears, he called them," said Steve, causing Maria to snap out of her thoughts, shock taking over her as she saw Steve's eyes filled with tears.

Letting go of his hands, she placed hers on either side of his face, frowning at his sadness. "You still have the others-"

"It's not them that I need," sighed Steve, grasping onto her waist and pulling her into a firm hug.

She placed her face in the familiar curl of his neck, smelling his cologne and shampoo which she had missed tremendously, her arms around his neck. The hug lasted a long time though for the two of them, it felt as though it had lasted only a second when they were forced to part again. Had they not parted, they would have been stood there for the remaining afternoon.

They were still holding onto each other when they had broken the hug, their faces only inches apart. She wanted to kiss him so badly, to return to how it was before. And when Steve leaned in slightly, she saw the opportunity to indeed go back there – it was like an open door ready for her to go through. Though she could not. If she returned, she would have to stay and bring down the entire team. She would have to face her fears and overcome them and only that was enough for her to turn her face and plant a longing kiss onto his cheek instead.

The disappointment over her actions could be seen in his eyes when she stepped away from him.

"I can't…" she said simply, shaking her head. "But I'm sure we'll see each other again. Just not as teammates or… Well…"

There were no more tears present in Steve's eyes. Instead, he looked rather empty, the twinkle she used to see in his eyes not being visible anymore. Guilt overcame her, though she did not know what to do about it.

"'Till we meet again," he said curtly.

She turned around, beginning to walk away from him, following the gravel path towards the garage. Though something caught her sight to her right. The large windows through which one could see both the living room area and the kitchen, were filled with people. Natasha, Vision, War Machine, Wanda, Nick, Hill, Martin and Sam, all standing there with their faces nearly pressed against the window. She could see them shouting at her, gesturing back towards Steve and she froze on the spot. They were telling her how to make that empty look disappear from Steve's eyes. They were telling her to simply go for it one last time.

Without thinking more about it, she turned around and ran back to Steve who was staring down at the grass in front of his feet. When he noticed her approaching him once more, she threw herself at him, attacking his lips with kisses and wrapping her arms around his neck. It took a mere second for him to comprehend and return the kisses, wrapping his arms around her waist. When she looked back up into his eyes, the twinkle in them had returned and she smiled widely.

"Maybe Thor was right…" said Maria, her heavy heart lifting slightly with her words. "Maybe I won't leave for good."

"Good, but I wasn't going to let you anyway," said Steve with a smirk before he let her go. "Stay in touch."

"I will," said Maria before placing one last kiss to his lips.

Knowing Steve understood her and knowing that Steve was hers once more, she turned and began to, once more, walk towards the garage. As she passed the windows, she saw most of the team waving and smiling, some applauding and some looking rather sad about her leaving. Natasha and Sam were the two who looked sad about her leaving, though they still nodded their heads at her understandingly and with everyone's support, Maria drove off in a very fancy, black Lamborghini given to her by Tony.

It was the beginning of her journey of understanding who she was; what her powers were, and the beginning of the true form of Mater Mortis. Would she return to the Avengers any time soon? Most certainly not. And even when they did need her help, she knew she would hesitate. Though if she was in luck, the Avengers would not need her until she had come over the trauma she had been through and learned from it.

But then again, was she ever lucky?

* * *

 **Just a few more filler chapters left after this one. Don't forget to comment about stuff you want to see in the next 'book'! So far I've gotten:**

 **1) Have Maria and Wanda become best friends.**

 **2) Maria and Wolverine bonding and getting along**

 **3) And Steve and Maria getting back together :P**

 **Which is a lot and I want to thank you all who commented. Onwards to the next chapter that will be up this week for sure :)**


	35. Chapter 34, Father Daughter Time

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 34~  
Father Daughter Time  
**

"Identification," sighed the woman behind the desk, not even looking up at Maria as she spoke, her bored voice telling Maria more than well that she was done with simply sitting behind that desk.

"Uh," began Maria, unsure of what to show the woman.

Maria had a passport somewhere in her bag filled with belongings, though she would have to search through the entire thing which she was not quite happy about. She had no driver's license to show to the woman nor did she have her Avenger's ID left. It had gotten lost during the battle in Sokovia and seeing as she had left the team, she never asked for a new one.

The woman looked up at her from the computer screen she had been staring at, and nearly jumped out of her skin at the sight of Maria. Startled, the woman stood up, running her hand through her hair to make it look more presentable before tugging nervously at the clothes she was wearing.

"Miss Dalton, please, come with me," said the woman, rounding the desk.

"Oh, okay," said Maria, unsure of what was happening.

After she had left the Avengers HQ, she had suddenly found herself in the position of not knowing where to go at all. After all, there was no home for her to go to and no friends who could help her, apart from Matt who she was thinking about disturbing later that evening for a place to sleep. However, she then remembered Wanda's words to her the evening before; how her father had wanted to talk to Maria. After some phone calls to Tony and Pepper, she finally managed to get a hold on the address of the prison Erik had been sent to, finding out it was an old SHIELD driven prison which Tony had taken over for the Avengers after the collapse of SHIELD. She wondered what other people could be sent to that prison briefly though decided against asking that, not wanting to know what other awful people there were out there.

"Mr Stark told me you would arrive," she said. "He explained it all."

"Uh, explained what?" Maria might have asked where the prison was, though she had never truly told Tony what she was going to do there.

"How you are going to take over the prison-"

"Oh, no, no," said Maria, quickly stopped which caused the woman to turn around with a wondering look on her face. "I-I'm not taking over anything."

"But Mr Stark-"

"Yeah, I bet that was his way of making me stay," sighed Maria. "You can tell him, _your boss_ , that I'm not taking over anything. I'm here to see Erik Dalton."

The woman looked at Maria for a while, her eyes suddenly turning cold and bored again, making Maria wonder if her kind attitude towards her had only been because she had thought Maria would become her new boss. Had she actually taken the offer, she would most certainly have fired the rude woman.

"Great…" mumbled the woman, turning around and beginning to walk down a hallway. "This way!"

Leading Maria, the woman led Maria past several bolted up doors and stairways leading either up or down. Maria wanted to ask why the doors were all obviously locked, though she did not feel like talking to the woman. Turning a corner, they were met with yet another hallway, however this time, the woman led Maria inside one of the doors, which was the only one that was not bolted. The woman used a key-card on the lock before passing through it and Maria found herself once more in yet another hallway, which caused her to sigh.

Though it was different from the other hallways. The floor seemed to be leaning downwards slightly as Maria felt significantly more pressure on her knees while walking down that hallway, then the previous one. Also, the hallway was not simply a boring one that looked as though it could have come straight out from any ordinary hospital, with boring beige colors. No, the hallway Maria and the cold woman were walking through had walls made out of steel, fancy marble floors and a dark ceiling; so dark it reminded Maria of the night sky, if not even darker. The lights were sprawled out like tiny bulbs all hanging from the ceiling which, with the dark ceiling, made them look like stars on the night-sky. It was beautiful, and strange.

The doors in the hallway were also different. They were present, though they were all made out of glass with only a small, metal handle on them meant for opening and closing. Next to each of the doors were the same locks as from earlier, all requiring a card and a code (check this). Seeing as the doors were see-through, Maria could easily deduce what was behind each door; a cell.

This was a prison and Maria figured that they were now in the hallway which was the secret holding place of super-criminals. So far, however, there was only Erik in there. Though she knew that, with time, more criminals would be held in there. Both those who were strong and powerful, and those who were less dangerous – Erik might fall into the latter category seeing as the Avengers were now a couple of members stronger.

As they had reached approximately halfway down the hallway, the cold woman stopped walking and turned to her right, looking at one of the cell-doors with narrowed eyes.

"Lunch-time already, my dear?"

The voice sent shivers up Maria's spine and she briefly wanted to turn and run away. Though she did not know why. She did not fear her father, especially not now that he was behind glass door which Stark himself had made sure could hold him and his powers. How, she did not know.

"You have a visitor, Mr Dalton."

Perhaps it was the fact that she now was going to face what she truly was. She had inheritated her father's powers and when she looked at him, she actually looked at an image of herself. An image of what she could become should she choose the wrong path, at least.

"Really?" his voice sounded intrigued and as she stepped forward so he could see her, his smile seemed to falter slightly before it turned into the brightest of smiles. "Maria! How nice of you to show!"

"Last time you saw me, I was laying dead in the sand," said Maria, narrowing her eyes.

"Please, I always knew you were coming back," he said, waving her words off. "One can't kill off a Dalton that easily."

"You wanted to talk to me," sighed Maria, placing her hands behind her back.

"I'll let you two talk. You have ten minutes," said the agent, nodding her head at Maria and giving Erik one last, rather mean, look before leaving back down the hallway again.

"Yes, good, Miss Maximoff told you," said Erik, standing up and walking over to the glass door.

Maria backed up, earning a soft chuckle from Erik.

"Well, I'm hurt!" he said, placing a hand on his chest, mockingly giving her a hurt look as well. "We just saved the world side by side and you still don't believe that I don't want to hurt you?" he asked, cocking his head to the side.

Maria narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't think I'll ever trust you again. But we're not here to talk about trust. We're here to talk about whatever you wanted to talk about."

"You're right," said Erik with a sigh. "I wanted to talk to you about it after the mission. I knew you or someone else would take me in. My original plan was to actually run for it the moment we got Ultron but seeing as he lifted the entire city up in the air, things got a bit complicated."

"And then I died."

"Yes, that did delay things as well," he agreed, nodding his head. "But I had no problem waiting. After all, I knew you would come back."

"Cut to the chase," said Maria plainly, earning a scoff from Erik.

"I left behind some men in Hell's Kitchen," he said. "I want you to take over."

"Take over what?"

"Them," said Erik as though it was an obvious thing for her to understand immediately. "They can't make it on their own. They need a leader and, well, I'm not really available at the moment."

"You're kidding, right?" asked Maria before sputtering out a laugh. "I'm not taking over a Hydra base!"

"Not Hydra," spat Erik. "For God's sake, woman, do you really think I'm pure evil!?"

Maria quieted down at his shouting, looking at him with a surprised look on her face.

"I've already told you a thousand times that I did not want to go with Hydra!" he said, taking another step forwards, the tip of his nose nearly touching the glass. "I did it to keep you safe. They wanted our powers and you were the perfect little guinea pig for them. They would conduct tests on you and train you into becoming their soldier. I didn't want that for you so… I agreed to take your place. On the condition that I would conduct the tests on my own. So, I did and I found our weakness and I found our strength. I suppose you were there by Captain Roger's side last year when SHIELD's little corruption was found out?"

"I was," she said, nodding her head. "What of it?"

"The _Hydrus Acidulus._ It was all me. They knew of your weakness because of me," he said, his voice wavering slightly between pride and regret. "Now everyone knows. Stark used it on the door. Neither of us can even touch the handle. And up there – those vents – they're ready to spill out the _Hydrus Acidulus_ in gas form should I even use my powers in here."

"Which are?" asked Maria quietly, her eyes going up to the vents, wondering where Tony got that idea from.

"The ones you saw," said Erik. "The ones you harbor but don't use."

"I can move things with my mind then," said Maria sarcastically. "Yeah, right."

"You can. You just need to trust in yourself and your new powers," said Erik. "I can help you with that-"

"You're not getting out of here," spat Maria, causing him to raise his hands in surrender, a smug smile on his face.

"It was worth a shot," he said, lowering his hands again. "About those men – They're good men, Maria. Good men with a little bit of a twist to them. They like killing the ones that cause trouble."

"Great…" sighed Maria. "So, they're criminals-"

"But not Hydra," he said, pointing a finger at her. "You're with that Captain for a reason. I know you won't pass on the opportunity to make these men better. They can help, Maria. They're not that bad."

"Maybe not… But I've left that life behind. I don't do that anymore. I suppose you just have to find someone else to babysit them for you until you get out."

"Please, we both know I'm not getting out of here," said Erik, turning around, pacing his cell. "Those men need someone, Maria. They're outsiders of society in need of something to do. I gave them the opportunity to work for me for a good cause and they might not have had a great mentor in Artur-"

"Artur? Yeah, that's just great. Now I'm getting his mess as well? I'm sorry, _dad_ , but this won't happen."

With that said, Maria turned and began walking down the hallway with a fast pace. She looked serious and rather annoyed, though in reality she was feeling a bit torn. Torn between choosing the life she had chosen those years ago when Stark had offered her a place with the Avengers, and choosing the safe way away from her fears.

* * *

 **Boring little chapter though the interesting stuff is coming. I hope. Also, I have a huge surprise coming for everyone who is going to read the next 'book'. Super excited about writing about that for you guys :D**


	36. Chapter 35, Xavier's School

**Make You Feel My Love  
~Book III~**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.  
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

* * *

 **~Chapter 35~  
Xavier's School  
**

Alcohol had never really had much of an effect on her. One time, when she was still with Artur's crew, she had gotten a bit tipsy and said some stupid things, though it had never been more than that. However, the night after her visit at her father's, she had let herself loose. Why and with what money? She did not know. All she knew was that she had somehow ended up on a table and done some things she would never had done had she been at least slightly sober.

It had been a crazy night and she feared to open her eyes. With those blurry memories circling around in her mind, she was sure she had the worst hangover in the world. Though there were unanswered questions that she needed answers for and the only way to do so was to wake up from her drowsy sleep and come up with them. Questions such as why she had done as she did and where she was now?

The first question was easy to answer; she was torn. A part of her, a strong part of her, wanted to leave her newly found life and new family behind to ignore her fears and not have to deal with those. It was a stupid defense mechanism of her mind working hardly to keep her from having to deal with anything she feared, she knew that, though it felt good to leave her fears undealt with.

The other part of her wanted to stay, to run back to the Avengers HQ, grab Steve and get everything back together again.

 _Steve…_

"He's not here, bub."

Maria's eyes snapped open. Her second question was answered rather quickly then. She found herself in a moving vehicle, the back of her seat leaned back so she could easily rest. It was a two-seater van which looked rather filthy from the inside. It was obvious it had been used a lot. It raised multiple new questions, though she ignored those for the time being as her eyes burned and hurt from the light they were met with. She hissed, feeling oddly much like a cat as she did so, at the light and closed her eyes again; moaning and covering her face with her arms.

"Yeah," chuckled the voice. "I can't imagine you're feeling too swell."

Her eyes snapped open again and she turned to her left to see a man sitting behind the wheel. Much to her relief, the man was no stranger. Well, he was, but she had met him before. It had been during the night that Tony had forced Maria to go out with him to a bar and Thor had showed up. The man who had been either flirting with her or who had tried to simply be kind, was the man now sitting behind the steering wheel, _abducting her_.

"Excuse me," she said, oddly calm and now ignoring the pain in her eyes and head as she sat upright. "But, where are you taking me?"

The man glanced at her before chuckling, the disgusting smoke coming from the old-fashioned cigar in his mouth causing her to gag – though she was sure that it had something to do with the alcohol she had consumed the night before too.

"You know, I thought people who had healing abilities such as yourself couldn't get drunk," said the man – Logan, Maria remembered he had called himself. "I know of a few who can't."

"Good for you. Now, can I get out?" asked Maria, beginning to pull on the handle of the cardoor, though finding it locked which only worried her more.

"Did he not say anything?" asked Logan, glancing at her again.

"Who?"

"The Professor."

"About what?"

"I'm taking you to see him," said Logan casually, continuing to puff on his cigar while turning into a small, gravel road seemingly leading into the forest. "Which is a good thing too 'cause you need someone to tell you to stop doing this," said Logan, shaking his head at her. "My first impression of you was that you didn't party."

"I don't," she said, leaning back again on the chair as she deduced the man was harmless enough. "But I suppose things have been a bit shit lately so I thought I'd try out what everyone does on the TV when their lives suck."

Logan chuckled at her words. "Did you like it?"

"No… Especially not the morning after. It's worse than my life is," said Maria only earning a scoff from Logan.

"No worse than mine, I assure you," he said.

"Believe me, it is."

"You wanna bet?"

She looked over at him, his gaze staying on the road and his serious face not twitching at all. It was obvious to Maria that he had been through a lot, perhaps even more than she had been through, and she suddenly felt a little bad about everything she had been feeling lately. Sure, she had her reasons to feel bad, there was nothing wrong with feeling bad about oneself from time to time too. It is even unhealthy not to let one feel sorry for oneself – it is when it goes overboard that it gets unhealthy and plain out annoying for anyone in the person's vicinity. Maria could only hope that she herself was not annoying to anyone in her vicinity – not that there were many people around her.

"You ever been dead?"

The question was odd, Maria knew this. But Logan did not react. He simply took in a deep breath before replying: "That's a complicated question. You mind clarifying 'dead'?"

She smiled. There was a strange sort of reassurance in the fact that Logan understood her. Of course Steve might as well, seeing as he had been in ice for 70 years. Though Steve was never dead… Then again, had she been? Technically, if her body was healing, she was alive. And she honestly did not know when her heart began to beat again. And if she was aware of her surroundings, then certainly her brain must still have been active?

"I mean dead in the way that the people around you plan your funeral," said Maria. "But you yourself might not be… dead."

Logan glanced at her before letting out an impressed whistle; "Alright, how about we don't bet? I don't like losing."

Maria sighed, sitting upright and moving her seat so it was supporting her back again. The road the vehicle was driving on began to turn a bit rough and both Logan and Maria were now swaying back and forth in their seats.

"That particular scenery might not have happened to me… But I do know one thing," he said, glancing once more at her. "Running away from the only thing that is good in your life, is not the way to deal with it."

* * *

After a while, the forest the two had been driving through came to an end. How far away they were, Maria was not sure of. She did not know when Logan had picked her up due to her awful blackouts. She wondered briefly what awkward things she had done in his presence which she did not remember and cringed slightly before she was met with the beautiful sight of the place Logan had been taking her to.

It was a large mansion surrounded by acres of beautiful gardens and fields. The gates taking them towards the mansion had a sign on it with the words; "Xavier's school for gifted young people". She smiled, recognizing the name of the school before mentally slapping herself.

 _Professor Xavier. The wheelchair. How could I have been so thick? He had even told her that someone would come to pick her up after everything was over…_

It was obvious to her now who had been trying to contact her – and also why. Albeit Maria might not be that much of a youngster anymore, she sure was a mutant which the words 'gifted youngsters' referred to. Her mind wondered to thoughts of how different her life could have been had she been taken into the school instead of taken in by Artur… Being a mutant meant naturally knowing about Professor Xavier and the many good deeds he had done for mutants almost all over the world. Of course not only the mutants knew of him but also others, though it was usually not such a positive perspective that they had on Xavier, nor any other mutant for that matter.

The car came to an abrupt halt and Logan exited. Seeing as her door was still locked, Maria could only wait and watch as Logan rounded the car, opening her door for her.

"Why'd you lock the door anyway?" asked Maria as she exited the car, hugging her stomach as she felt it doing multiple flips, almost seeming to try to protest to her doing anything at all. Or perhaps it was protesting against her stupid behavior. Either way, it was unpleasant.

"You were acting odd. Trying to get out of the car while shouting something about a Batmobile. So, I locked the door," he explained in a monotone voice, seeming unfazed by her crazy behavior.

Though she was not unfazed by it and cringed as Logan turned away from her to lead her towards the front porch. She followed him, the pebbles under her boots making a satisfying crunching noise as she did. The entire mansion looked old and fancy, green trees and bushes surrounding the porch and multiple branches of ivy were climbing the stone walls of the mansion. She briefly wished to live there so she could uncover secret rooms of the mansion, though she soon found out that it might not be worth it as she would have to clean the place as well. And she did not doubt there were a lot of rooms to keep clean.

Logan casually opened the door and led her inside – which was even prettier than the outside had been. Wide staircases spireled up towards a porch leading to different parts of the house and in the middle of the entrance hall, a large carpet lay sprawled on the wooden floor right underneath of the largest chandelier she had ever seen. It's light beamed down on her, the glass decorations dangling slightly as loud footsteps ran around on the floor above. For a mansion, the place was quite lively. She could hear footsteps and laughter echoing from far away hallways and she could simply feel the liveliness of the place. Well, it was a school after all. There would be something wrong if there weren't any students.

Logan led her towards the stairs which they climbed easily, and then she was led down a long corridor. The doors in said corridor were all open and from time to time she managed to peak inside and catch a glimpse of either a child or two talking, or a teenager or two. As they reached the end of the corridor, Logan stopped and knocked on a particular door. As they waited for an answer, Maria turned back to look down the corridor they had walked through, and noticed that, from each door, two or more heads were peaking out to stare at her and Logan. In a way, it looked rather comical to see all those young faces peeking out, trying their best to not be conspicuous (though failing). However, Maria felt a bit self-conscious about the situation, seeing as she was sporting the worst hangover ever, which was not a very good example for either of those youngsters.

"Don't worry about that, they've seen Logan in worse conditions." The familiar voice startled Maria, making her look back towards the door she and Logan were standing in front of. It had opened without her noticing and the Professor was there, looking at her with a kind smile on his face. "Come on inside, we have a lot to discuss. Uh, Logan, I think Jean was looking for you."

"Right," said Logan, glancing at you once before leaving down the corridor, silently scolding the kids and telling them to mind their own business.

Maria followed the Professor inside, finding it a bit odd to finally meet him in real life though also finding it quite comforting as she could finally ask him all the questions she had. Beginning with exactly who he was and why wanted to contact her.

"That's a rather easy question to answer," he said, making Maria stare at him in confusion.

He wheeled over to his desk, gesturing towards a chair in front of it so she could seat down. Slowly, she did, all the while staring at him.

"Are you a mind-reader too?" she asked, in a joking fashion.

"Yes."

Her smile faded into a wondrous expression; "Oh."

"As you already know, I'm Professor Charles Xavier and this is my school. I help those gifted young people who are in need of help to control their powers or even learn about them. All the while also giving them an education so they can survive out there on their own, living alongside with everyone else," he said, still holding that faint, kind smile on his lips. "It's been open for quite some time now and during the years I've helped many mutants to find their powers and their place in society… Though I've failed as well. Failed terribly…"

"Why are you telling me all this?" she asked softly, not wanting to be rude, but also feeling eager to know the answer to why he wanted to talk to _her_.

"Because one of those people that I have failed terribly with, is your father."

Maria leaned back in her chair, already feeling bubbles of hatred appearing inside of her as her father was brought back into her memory.

"Erik Dalton came to us when he was very little back in the 80s. His parents were religious and slightly superstitious and had thought he was possessed by the Devil as he could move things with his mind. He had only been five years old when they had started performing exorcisms on him… Those days kept haunting him no matter what I tried to do."

"You save him then?" asked Maria.

"Yes. I thought that bringing him to a new home and a place where his powers were accepted would help him grow. And it did, for a while. He met your mother through this school," said Xavier with a smile. "She was a math teacher here, mutant friendly and driven to help the children here get a good life amongst everyday people as well. He had just finished school and returned to give some lectures for the children, to inspire them to do good in school. If I recall correctly, he had started working for SHIELD."

"Yes, that's what he told everyone," said Maria.

"No, that's what he did," said Xavier. "And you know that because Erik has told you this. Erik has told you his story about Hydra figuring him out and wanting to use his powers. And if they could not get his, they would use yours."

Maria looked down at her hands; "Yes, he told me that."

"Then you know he joined Hydra to keep you safe," said Xavier. "What happened to him after he joined, that's all on me."

"What do you mean?"

"He fell for their logics. For their views and opinions. He fell for them, because I introduced him to that way of thinking. Mutants being strong, powerful and the next step of mankind's evolution. I know," he said, obviously having heard her thoughts; "what a macabre way of thinking. But I never meant it in that way. I meant that mutants were natural and not something others should fear. That in a hundred years, or even thousands of years, mankind would be different; like us. But it does not mean that mankind should be eradicated."

"Are you telling me that this is what my father wants?" asked Maria.

"I'm telling you that Hydra wants mankind to be like them. And Hydra is different and want to improve mankind. They are making super soldiers, or trying at least, a stronger mankind. Your father agrees with that," said Xavier, his eyes lowering to his lap. "And I'm afraid I might have brought him onto that path."

"I don't think so. I think he was bad on the inside already," said Maria before smiling softly; "And I think neither of us should have to feel like we are responsible for his actions."

Xavier returned the smile before opening a drawer on his desk. "He used to be really good at what he did. And when he left, he left some things behind. I kept them. For you."

Maria stood up at the sight of what Xavier pulled out from the drawer. It was a pair of folded clothing, clearly Erik's old uniform. They were a dark shade of blue, close to a violet shade. It reminded her of her own uniform, which was stored somewhere. A beautiful, silver belt came along with the uniform. Though it was not the belt nor was it the uniform that had made her stand up in awe. It was the sword resting on top of the uniform. It's handle was decorated with two, glowing rubies the same shade as the uniform and as she reached out her hands towards the handle, they lighted up ever so briefly, seeming to show that something flickered alive.

"It's a beautiful artifact," said Xavier as she grabbed the handle, unsheathing it and holding it upright in front of her. It's blade shimmered in the sunlight bouncing off of it from the window. "Found by a friend of mine a very, very long time ago. Erik found it down in the basement when he was younger. Luckily for him, the blade accepted him, otherwise he would have been dead by now."

"Accepted?" asked Maria.

"It's an artifact from, most likely, another world. Look at the side of the blade," said Xavier, gesturing towards the sword.

Maria turned the sword in her hands, indeed seeing vague words sprawled on the side of the blade. Though they were words written in a language she did not understand. It's letters were beautiful, though, and did not bother her at all.

"No one has managed to figure out what they mean. Mostly because it is hard to hold it. Only those it accepts can hold the sword in their hands. Other have tried, but were poisoned the moment they touched the handle," said Xavier. "Seeing as you are still standing, I am assuming it accepted you as it accepted your father."

"You're giving it to me?"

"On one condition," nodded Xavier. "You go back to do what you love and what you are good at. Go back to saving people and keeping world a better place. Go back to the Avengers."

"You know," said Maria, placing the sword back into its holster, though keeping it in her hand. "I've heard this place has a group of its own as well."

Xavier smiled, "Yes. Though I have a feeling you have deeper connections with the Avengers."

"What about… Everything."

"You died," said Xavier. "I was there, remember?"

She nodded her head, indeed remembering when Xavier came to her a few days after she had been placed in the morgue. He had talked to her, encouraged her and told her that help would come. That she was not forgotten by those she loved the most. And indeed, three days later, Steve and Matt arrived and she woke up again.

"But it is your gift. You heal. You defeat death. Why do you think the tabloid's name Mater Mortis stuck?"

She glanced back down at the sword, the gems on the handle glowing ever so briefly again as she did so. A soft smile creeped onto her lips, fully flowering into a happy smile after a while. She met the eyes of Xavier who smiled happily at her as well.

"Very well," she said. "I'll go back."

* * *

 **This was the last chapter I'll post for this very story. Next part will be up either next week or the week after that. But I will let you know, probably with a little teaser for the upcoming story!**

 **Thoughts and feedback is much appreciated and this will also be the last time you guys can comment anything you want to see in the next story :) I'll also begin to re-write and fix some plot-holes that I know appeared here and there in all three stories, but that won't affect any of the plot that you have followed so far. Thanks for all the support, guys, it means a lot to me :)**


	37. New Story!

**New story is up! So sorry this took so long to update, but it just took a bit longer to get inspiration this time... especially since I have not got Civil War on DVD yet... I know :P I want it so badly! Oh well...**

 **You can find it by going to my profile :)**

 **Make You Feel My Love ~Book IV~**

(Follows the Civil War movie) Maria returns back to the Avengers and begins the adventure of rebuilding her relationship with Steve. After a mission goes wrong, the government comes with an offer that doesn't make the entire team happy. Slowly, the team is torn apart. How will this affect Steve and Maria's relationship and what will happen when an old friend comes back?

 **Thanks for all the support on this one guys :)**


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